LETT 


LEADING    ENGINEERS 


NAVAL   ARCHITECTS 


AS   TO  THE  PRACTICABILITY  OF  CONSTRUCTING  AND  OPERATING 


A    SHIP     RAILWAY. 


ST.  LOUIS: 
a.  I.  JONES  &  COiVIPANY,  Printers. 

1882. 


XjETTEI^S 


LEADING  ENGINEERS 


NAVAL  ARCHITECTS 


AS  TO   THE    PRACTICABILITY   OF    CONSTRUCTING 
AND    OPERATING  A 


SHIP   RAILWAY. 


ST.   LOUIS: 

G.    I.  JONES   &   COMPANY,  Fhintkks. 
1882. 


-rs? 


J 


6> 
o 

^  LETTERS    FROM    > 


LEADING 

ENGINEERS  AND  NA  VAL  ARCHITECTS 

AS  TO  THE  PRACTICABILITY 

OF  CONSTRUCTING    AND   OPERATING   A 

SHIP  RAILWAY. 


4 


The  publicjition  of   the  following  letters  from  the  ino>>t  cini- 

,  nent    naval    architects,    engineers,    and    professional    experts    in 

Great   Britain,   the   United  States,  and   other   countries,  should 

■%     suffice  to  dispose  forever  of  the  question  of  the  practicability  of 

'^    constructing  a  ship  raihvaj'  and  of  transporting  loaded  vessels  on 

'    it  across  the  American   Istliraus.     They  are  published   as  they 

were  written,  Avith  the  addition  of  an  occasional  biographical  de- 

V'   tail,  to  further  emphasize  the  value  of  their  testimony. 

o       The  very  able  and  unanswerable  letter  of  Sir  Edward  J.  Reed 

^y  to  Admiral  Ammen  has  already  been  published  separately,  but  it 

is  added  to  this  collection,  and  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the 

c    pamphlet.     The  attention  of  the  reader  is  particularly  directed  to 

it,  as  it  discusses  the  subject  at  full  length,  and  demonstrates  in  a 

most  convincing  manner  not  only  the  entire  practicability  of  the 

ship  railway,  but  its  superior  economy  over  every  other  plan  of 

Isthmian  transit. 

It  will  be  noted  that  some  of  the  letters  are  addressed  to  Sir 
Edward  Reed.  They  reached  liim  at  the  time  when  he  had  the 
imi)ortant  questions  submitted  to  him  In'  Admiral  Annnen,  under 


4  LETTERS    FROM 

consideration,  and  are  the  result  of  his  interchange  of  views  with 
the  writers. 

Nothing  could  add  to  the  value  and  completeness  of  the  evi- 
dence of  these  letters  with  regard  to  the  question  at  issue.  They 
are  written  bj-  men  of  eminence  and  distinction  in  their  profes- 
sion, who  would  never  lend  the  weight  of  their  authority  to  any 
doubtful  statement,  nor  risk  their  reputations  in  supporting  an  im- 
practicable project.  Their  cAidence  closes  finally  the  question 
as  to  whether  the  ship  railway  is  scientifically  practicable.  In 
addition  to  these  letters,  the  plan  has  received  the  sanction  of 
the  ablest  scientific  journals  in  Europe  and  America,  and  I  there- 
fore deem  it  unnecessary  to  reply  to  any  of  the  arguments  that 
have  been  published  by  othei"s  against  the  practicability  and  econ- 
omy of  transporting  ships  across  the  Isthmus  by  rail. 

Inasmuch  as  some  doubt  has  been  raised  as  to  the  practicability 
of  the  route  by  misstatements  of  the  topograph}^  of  the  countr}' 
along  the  line,  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  letters  of  Don 
Francisco  de  Garay,  on  page  18 ;  of  Mr.  E.  A.  Fuertes,  on  page 
31 :  and  of  Mr.  J.  J,  Williams,  on  page  28,  to  show  the  utter  un- 
reliability of  such  statements.  All  three  of  these  engineers  are 
much  more  familiar  with  the  Isthmus,  through  the  careful  surv^eys 
which  they  have  each  made  for  canals  and  railroads  across  it,  than 
any  other  parties  assuming  to  have  knowledge  of  the  route  of  the 
ship  railway.  This  route  has  not  yet  been  definitely  determined, 
although  my  surveys  have  demonstrated  the  existence  of  two  dif- 
ferent ones,  both  of  which  are  entirely  practicable,  and  on  one  of 
which  there  are  no  grades  greater  than  one  foot  in  a  hundred,  and 
the  distance  over  which  such  a  grade  as  this  is  requisite  will  not 
exceed  one-tenth  of  the  entire  route.  It  is  believed  that  additional 
surveys  will  develop  a  still  better  route.  James  B.  Eads. 

St.  Louis,  December,  1881. 


The   writer  of    the  following  letter,  Nathaniel  Barnaby,  C.  B.,  is  the 
present  Chief  Constructor  of  the  British  Na^^r. 

London,  Octobers,  1881. 
Dear  Sir :  —  I  was  not  prompt  to  offer  you  a  written  opinion 
upon  the  part  of  your  system  of  ship  railwaj^  to  which  you  told 
me  certain  persons  had  objected,  \az.,  the  possible  straining  of 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  ■> 

loaded  ships  when  Ufted  out  of  the  water,  and  as  a  mere  conse- 
quence of  losing  the  support  of  the  water. 

I  saw  that  you  had  so  thoroughly  considered  the  question  in  all 
its  bearings,  that  I  did  not  suppose  any  word  of  mine  could  he 
useful  to  you. 

I  learn,  however,  from  Sir  Edward  Reed,  that  you  think  other- 
wise, and  are  not  willing  to  leave  any  obstacles  on  the  road  to  suc- 
cess, if  pains  and  care  on  your  part  can  remoA^e  them. 

I  note,  therefore,  the  question  vou  wish  to  put  to  me,  which  is : 
"  Do  I  think  the  problem  insoluble  of  constructing  a  car,  on  which 
a  fully  loaded  shi})  can  be  safely  transported  over  such  a  rail- 
way as  could  be  built  through  a  tolerably  level  country  ?' ' 

In  reply  to  this,  I  say  not  onlj-  that  it  is  soluble,  but  that  the 
solution  is,  in  my  opinion,  fairly  indicated  in  j^our  plans  as  laid 
before  the  Committee  on  Inter-Oceanic  Canals  and  shown  to  me. 

Ships  which  would  be  strained  by  ordinary  docking,  would  be 
liable  to  be  strained  also  when  suspended  on  a  car  not  specially 
designed  for  their  crazy  condition ;  but  such  ships  would  be  still 
mo»e  strained  in  their  ordinary  sea  passages. 
I  am,  dear  sir. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Nath'l  Barnaby, 
Director  of  Naval  Construction. 

To  Mb  James  B.  Eads,  St.  Louis. 


Mr.  John,  the  writer  of  the  following,  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  School 
of  Naval  Architecture  and  Engineering;  was,  until  recently,  the  scientific 
adviser  of  the  Committee  of  Lloyd's  Register  of  British  Sliipping,  White 
Lion  Court,  Cornhill,  London,  and  is  now  the  manager-in-chief  of  the 
Barrow  Ship-Building  Company,  which  has  just  completed  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Inman  Steam  Liner,  the  "  City  of  Rome." 

The  fact  that  Mr.  John  was  for  many  years  the  scientific  adviser  to  the 
Committee  of  Lloyd's  Register  of  British  Shipping,  should  not  be  passed 
over  without  an  explanation  to  the  popular  reader:  The  Committee  of 
Lloyd's  Register  of  British  Shipping  publishes  what  are  known  as 
"Lloyd's  Rules."  These  state  the  different  sizes  of  the  various  parts  of 
vessels  by  which  they  are  entitled  to  be  insured  as  first-class  sea-going 
ships,  and  unless  all  vessels  are  built  in  accordance  with  these  rules  they 
are  refused  insurance.  The  duty  of  the  scientific  adviser  is  to  investi- 
gate all  of  the  various  strains  to  which  vessels  are  liable  in  violent  storms 
or  when  stranded,  and  to  determine,  according  to  the  length  of  the  vessel, 
her  breadth  and  depth,  etc.,  the  sizes  of  the  plates  or  planking,  the  beams. 


6  LETTERS    FROM 

ribs,  floor  timbers,  keels,  keelsons,  etc.,  that  are  necessary  to  safely  sus- 
tain these  strains.  The  very  highest  acquirements  in  the  science  of  ship- 
building are,  therefore,  absolutely  necessary  to  fit  a  naval  architect  for 
this  highly  important  position.  These  rules  being  published,  any  intel- 
ligent ship-builder,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  scientific  principles 
involved  in  ship-building,  is  able  to  build  vessels  which  would  be  ranked 
as  A.  1  by  the  underwriters  in  England  and  the  United  States. 


Baukow  Shu'-Building  Company  (Limited),    ) 
Barrow-in-Fuuness,  Lancashire,  Oct.  6th,  1881.        ) 

My  Dear  Sir  Edward: — 

I  have,  in  accordance  with  your  request,  carefully  thought  over 
the  question  of  the  ship  railway,  and  altho'  the  practical  difficul- 
ties of  carrying  it  out  would  be  great  and  will  require  the  most 
careful  foresiglit  and  arrangement,  and  the  most  accurate  calcula- 
tions, I  do  not  see  that  the  problem  is  at  all  an  impossible  one. 

The  practice  of  lifting  a  ship  of  large  size  clean  out  of  the 
water  has  become  an  every-day  occurrence.  The  further  step  of 
lifting  her  to  a  considerable  height  is  not  a  great  one,  especially  if 
you  can  start  with  her  floating  in  a  considerable  depth  of  water. 
Beyond  these  the  conveyance  of  her  over  a  railway,  provided  the 
latter  is  moderately  level  and  moderately  straight,  is  a  simple 
matter  which  is  certainl}^  not  outside  the  reach  of  ciAil  engineers. 

We  could  unquestionably'  do  the  lifting  and  depositing  part  of 
the  business,  and  from  an  engineering  and  scientific  point  of  view 
these  must  be  the  greatest  difficulties. 

I  do  not  enter  into  the  question  of  cost,  because  it  would  in- 
volve an  investigation  of  details  which  I  have  not  at  the  present 
moment  the  time  for.  I  w-ould  not,  however,  hesitate  to  go  into 
it  if  it  was  coming  to  immediate  practical  business. 

Believe  me,  yours  faithfully, 

Wm.  John. 

Sir  E.  J.  Reed,  K.  C.  B..  M.  P.,  Broadway  Chambers,  West- 
minster. 


George  Fosbury  Lyster,  Esq.,  the  writer  of  the  following  letter,  is  the 
engineer-in-cliief  of  the  Liverpool  Docks,  a  position  which  he  has  held  for 
twenty  years.  He  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  able  and  conserva- 
tive engineers  in  England.  The  docks  referred  to,  constructed  from  the 
designs  of  Mr  Lyster,  are  among  the  wonders  of  the  world.     The  Alex- 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    AUCHITECTS.  7 

andra  Docks,  opened  by  H.  R.  H.,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember last,  required  seven  years  in  their  construction,  and  involved  an 
■expenditure  of  twenty-flve  million  dollars.  Either  one  of  two  of  the 
Alexandra  Docks  is  capable  of  docking  the  "  Great  Eastern  "  : — 

Meksey  Dock  Estate.  ) 

Engineer's  Office,  Dock  Yakd,  > 
Liverpool,  2d  November.  1881.       ) 
Dear  Mr.  Eads: — 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  Kith  iilt.,  referring  to  the  several 
interviews  I  have  had  with  you  dui'ing  your  recent  visit  to  this 
countiy,  on  the  interesting  subject  of  j'our  proi)osed  ship  railway 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepee.  as  also  to  the  papers  which 
you  were  good  enough  to  leave  with  me,  further  illustrating  your 
opinions  on  the  point,  I  have  now  been  able  to  give  the  whole  mat- 
ter, as  far  as  its  engineering  features  are  concerned,  very  careful 
consideration,  and  have  concluded  that  if  the  permanent  way, 
cradle  arrangements,  and  general  details  are  carried  out  in  the  inge- 
nious and  substantial  manner  you  described,  there  will,  in  my  judg- 
ment, be  little  or  no  difficulty  in  transporting  properly  constructed 
ships  from  sea  to  sea  with  entire  convenience  and  safet}'. 

As  regards  the  advantages  of  the  geographical  i)osition  selected 
by  you  for  the  undertaking  —  not  having  visited  the  locality,  I,  of 
course,  am  unable  to  give  an  opinion  of  any  value  on  the  point ; 
but  from  the  views  you  laid  before  me,  and  the  reasons  you  urge 
for  its  adojjtion.  it  appears  to  me  that  your  arguments  are  unan- 
answerable  and  worthy  of  suppoit. 

Wishing  you  ever}^  success  towards  the  fulfillment  of  this  grand 
conception,  I  remain.  Yours  very  faithfully, 

GE<)K(iE    FOSBLKY    LySTER, 

C.  E..  and  Mem.  Inst.  C.  E. .,  Engineer-in-Chief,  Liverpool  Docks. 
James  B.  Eads,  Esq., 

502  Chamber  of  Commerce,  St.  Louis.  U.  S.  A. 


Mr.  John  Fowler,  the  writer  of  the  following  letter,  was  consulting 
engineer  of  the  Egyptian  Government,  engineer-in-chief  of  the  Metro- 
politan (Underground)  Railway  of  London,  and  is  now  constructing 
by  far  the  largest  bridge  in  the  world.  He  is  a  past  president  of  the 
Institute  of  Engineers  in  England,  and  a  gentleman  who  is  recognized 
'as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  experienced  of  living  engineers :  — 

2  QiEEX  Square  Place,  Westminster,  September  4,  188L 
My  Dear  Sir :  —  You  will  be  interested  to  know  that  about 


9  LETTERS    FROM 

eight  years  ago,  wlien  acting  as  consulting  engineer  to  the  Egyp- 
tian Porte,  I  was  instructed  to  prepare  a  project  for  the  transport 
of  steamers  and  other  vessels  from  one  level  to  the  other  at  the 
First  Cataract  of  the  Nile. 

After  a  very  careful  investigation  of  the  alternative  plajis  of 
canal  and  ship  railway  on  the  spot,  I  decided  in  favor  of  the  rail- 
way, having  satisfied  myself  that  there  was  no  mechanical  difh- 
culty  in  canying  ships  of  any  size,  without  injurj'  to  themselves, 
on  a  properly  designed  car  or  cradle  over  a  solidly  constructed 
railway.  Yours  very  truly, 

John  Fowler. 

Capt.  James  B.  Eads. 


The  distinguished  writer  of  the  following  letter,  Mr.  E.  Leader  Williams,, 
was  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Trent  and  Mersey  Canal,  and  was  the  origina- 
tor of  the  celebrated  Anderton  Lift,  which  unites  the  River  Weaver  with  the 
canal  by  means  of  an  ingenious  arrangement  by  which  a  section  of  the 
canal,  about  150  feet  long  and  containing  two  barges  and  the  water  in 
which  they  float,  weighing  in  all  about  250  tons,  is  raised  and  lowered 
by  simple  hydraulic  apparatus  through  the  space  of  fifty  feet. 

This  lift  has  been  in  operation  for  seven  years  without  the  slightest  acci- 
dent, and  has  given  such  satisfaction  that  the  government  of  France  has 
ordered  one  of  four  times  its  capacity  to  connect  two  different  levels  of 
one  of  the  French  canals,  and  the  government  of  Belgium  is  now  building 
four  similar  ones  of  still  greater  capacity:  — 

Queen's  Chambers,  John  Dalton  St.,  ^ 
Manchester,  September  5,  1881.       I 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  consider  your  plan  for  a  ship  railway  quite  prac- 
ticable, and  that  it  may  be  developed  into  a  sound  commercial 
enterprise. 

When  I  first  proposed  to  lift  loaded  boats  vertically'  fifty  feet, 
so  as  to  pass  them  in  three  minutes  from  the  River  Weaver  to  the 
Trent  and  Mersey  Canal  without  locks,  manj'  persons  considered 
my  scheme  visionary.  You,  however,  have  seen  the  lift  at  work, 
and  it  has  now  been  in  constant  operation,  without  any  hitch,  for 
the  past  seven  years. 

I  believe  that  your  ship  railway  only  requires  carrying  out  into 
execution  to  prove  most  successful  in  every  way. 
Yours  very  truly, 

E.  Leader  Williams, 

M.  Inst.  C.  E. 

James  B.  Eads,  Esq. 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  H 

The  following  letter  is  from  tlie  engineer  now  in  charge  of  tlie  Ander- 
ton  Lift : — 

Weaver  Navigation,  Engineer's  Office, 
NoRTHwiCH,  England,  October  20th,  1881. 
My  Dear  Sir : —  Having  been  for  five  years  employed  in  super- 
intending and  cariying  out  works  of  various  desci'iptions  in  ship- 
building yards,  including  the  construction  of  ships  of  large  size, 
and  the  repair  of  ships  on  hauling  up  slips,  and  having  for  the 
last  four  years  had  charge  of  the  Anderton  Lift  on  this  navigation, 
which  is  used  daity  for  raising  laden  barges  a  height  of  fifty  feet 
to  transfer  them  to  a  canal  on  the  upper  level,  I  am  satisfied  that 
the  proposal  of  Captain  Eads  to  raise  ships  by  mechanical  means 
and  convey  them  overland  on  a  railway  and  on  carriages  espe- 
cially designed  for  the  purpose,  is  one  which  is  feasible  and  ought 
to  succeed  ;  and  that  the  strains  on  the  hull  may  be  more  accu- 
rately calculated  and  provided  for  on  land  than  is  possible  when 
ships  are  subject  to  the  varying  conditions  inseparable  from  a  sea 
passage  in  stormy  weather.  I    remain. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Lionel  B.  Wells, 

M.  Inst.  C.  E. 
Sir  E.  J.  Reed,  K.  C.  B.,  F.  R.  S.,  M.  P. 


Mr.  Duer,  the  writer  of  the  following  letter,  is  an  able  civil  engineer, 
who  has  devoted  many  years  of  his  life  to  the  study  of  hydraulic  appa- 
ratus for  lifting  vessels :  — 


6  Westminster  Chambers, 
Victoria  Street,  London,  September  2,  188 


.J 


Captain  Eads,  etc.,  etc. 

Dear  Sir :  —  Previous  to  the  day  on  whifth  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  you  at  Anderton,  and  of  there  explaining  to  j^ou  the 
details  of  the  canal-lift,  a  ship  railway  was  a  subject  to  which  I 
had  never  given  serious  attention,  and  for  want  of  proper  exami- 
nation my  prejudices  were  not  favorable  to  it.  Since  that  time  I 
have,  however,  given  a  considerable  amount  of  thought  to  this 
subject,  and  as  I  have  for  many  years  been  in  the  habit  of  seeing 
ships  standing  out  of  the  water  on  floating  pontoons,  and  moved 
about  in  all  kinds  of  weather  at  the  Victoria  Docks,  my  mind 


10  LETTERS   FROM 

could  easily  pass  to  the  consideration  of  a  ship  similarly  mounted 
on  a  carriage  on  land  ;  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  ships 
at  the  Victoria  and  other  hydraulic  docks  remain  on  the  pontoons 
for  days  and  weeks  together,  sometimes  with  their  cargoes  on 
board,  I  feel  that  there  ought  to  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  safety  of  a 
ship  at  rest  on  a  properly  constructed  carriage. 

As  all  the  details  of  the  lai-ge  hydraulic  dock  which  was  con- 
structed ten  years  ago  for  the  government  of  Bombay,  were 
entrusted  to  my  care,  and  as  this  dock  is  capable  of  Ufting  any 
ship  afloat,  my  experience  fully  justifies  me  in  saying  that  the 
lai'gest  ship  can  be  as  readily-  and  safely  placed  on  a  carriage  as  a 
small  one  can. 

When,  again,  I  reflect  on  the  nature  of  the  strains  to  which  a  ship 
is  subject  at  sea :  the  shocks  that  occur  from  the  blows  of  heavj- 
seas,  and  the  large  portions  of  the  ship's  surface  that  are  at  times 
entirely  out  of  the  water,  I  begin  to  wonder  why  an^^  one  should 
doubt  that  it  would  be  as  safe  or  even  safer  on  a  well-constructed 
railway  than  when  so  tossed  and  buffeted  about  in  what  we  have 
hitherto  regarded  as  its  proper  element.  As  I  am  not  acquainted 
with  railway  traveling  in  America,  I  must  call  to  your  remembrance 
the  ease  and  comfort  with  which  one  journeys  on  the  London  and 
Northwest'Crn  Railway  of  England.  It  is  not  difficult  on  this  rail- 
way to  forget  altogether  that  one  is  traveling,  while  in  a  gale  at 
sea  this  oblivion  is  impossible. 

As  a  ship  is  ordinarily  supported  in  a  graving-dock  on  keel  blocks 
with  side  shores  placed  on  the  altars,  as  the  level  of  the  water 
in  the  dock  falls,  it  must  be  considerably  strained,  as  almost  the 
whole  of  its  weight  is  carried  on  the  keel ;  but  when  the  bilge- 
blocks  are  carefully  introduced  under  water  while  the  ship  is 
afloat  it  must  be  almost,  if  not  quite,  as  free  from  strain  as  when 
in  smooth  water.  To  avoid  all  danger  from  too  much  weight  being 
carried  on  the  keel,  the  bilge-blocks  for  the  Bombay  Dock  were 
so  designed  that  the  ship  on  a  pontoon  can,  if  desired,  be  lifted 
entirely  off  its  keel  and  the  whole  of  its  weight  carried  on  the  bilges. 
With  a  system  of  blocking  so  entirely  under  control  it  is  impos- 
sible that  a  ship  can  be  injured  while  on  a  good  carriage  on  a  good 
railway,  as  the  deck-beams  must  be  amph*  sufficient  to  resist  any 
outward  thrust  that  can  arise  from  the  cargo.  In  a  word,  we  ma\- 
say,  from  long  experience,  that  there  is  no  danger  or  difficulty  in 
placing  a  loaded  ship  on  a  carriage  suitable  for  a  railway,  of  trans- 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AJfD    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  11 

porting  that  ship  and  cai'riage  from  the  water  to  the  railway ;  and 
when  this  is  done,  I  am  of  opinion  that  it  will  not  be  diflScult  to 
draw  it  quickly  and  safely  across  the  Isthmus. 

These  and  other  considerations  too  numerous  to  trouble  you 
with  in  a  letter  which  has  already  become  too  long,  have  converted 
me  from  being  skeptical  to  having  perfect  confidence  in  the  railway 
you  propose,  and  I  hope  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  carry  out 
your  project  which,  while  being  perfectl}'  practicable,  so  far  exceeds 
in  gi-andeur  anything  that  man  has  yet  attempted. 
I  am,  dear  sir. 

Yours   faithfully, 

SlDENGHAM    DuER. 


The  following  letter  is  from  the  distinguished  civil  engineers,  Clark  & 
Standfield,  who  have  had  a  most  extensive  and  successful  experience  in 
lifting  ships.  Mr.  Edvvin  Clark  was  the  chief  assistant  of  Robert  Stephen- 
son in  the  building  of  the  celebrated  tubular  bridge  over  the  Menai 
Straits,  and  is  the  engineer  who  introduced  the  hydraulic  vertical  lift  sys- 
tem, the  most  notable  example  of  this  kind  being  at  Bombay ;  another, 
of  lesser  capacity,  at  Malta ;  and  still  another  at  the  Victoria  Docks,  in 
London,  all  of  which  works  hav'e  given  the  most  perfect  satisfaction : — 

6  Westminster  Chambers,  ) 
London,  September  6,  1881.       5 
Capt.  J.  B.  Eads,  C.  E. 

Dear  Sir :  —  Referring  to  our  interview  on  the  subject  of  the 
proposed  ship  railway  across  the  American  Isthmus,  we  new  beg 
to  say  that  our  works  are  likely  to  be  so  much  occupied  during  the 
next  year  that  we  should  scarcely  be  in  a  position  to  execute  'Any 
works  out  of  England  in  connection  with  the  proposed  railway, 
but  we  should  be  very  happy  to  prepare  tlie  drawings  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  terminal  works  for  lifting  the  vessels  at  the  At- 
lantic and  Pacific  ports. 

We  understand  it  will  be  requisite  to  transport  loaded  vessels  of 
the  weight  of  4,000  to  6,000  terns,  moi'e  or  less,  on  the  railway  at 
the  rate  of  about  six  miles  per  hour,  on  a  gradient  of  one  or  two  per 
cent,  and  that  it  will  be  required  to  raise  the  vessels  on  a  railway 
car  out  of  the  water  to  a  variable  height  not  exceeding  46  feet, 
and  deposit  them  on  the  rails  in  a  time  not  exceeding  thirty  min- 
utes. These  conditions  may  be  fulfilled  in  two  different  ways, 
and  we  need  not  say  that  it  is  a  plan  in  which  Mr.  Edwin  Clark 


12  LETTERS    FROM 

has  entire  confidence,  and  in  which  he  will  take  the  fullest  interest 
in  arranging  the  details.  The  hydraulic  system  would  probably 
be  the  most  rapid  but  probably  the  more  costly.  At  the  Bomliay 
Hydraulic  Dock  we  have  lifted  weights  up  to  12,000  tons,  with  72 
presses,  14  inches  diameter,  and  3G  feet  stroke.  The  Victoria  and 
Malta  Hj'^draulic  Docks  have  been  many  years  in  constant  opera- 
tion. 

At  the  canal  lift  at  Fontinettes  we  employ  presses  with  rams, 
6  feet  7  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  oO-feet  stroke.  Each  of  these 
presses  will  raise  a  dead  weight  of  1,000  tons  through  a  height 
of  about  50  feet,  in  three  minutes.  The  weight  lifted  is  a  movable 
portion  of  the  canal,  about  132  feet  long,  containing  the  water 
and  a"  barge  floating  in  it.  This  work  is  now  in  course  of  con- 
struction for  the  French  government,  and  it  is  to  be  erected  near 
St.  Omer,  in  France,  and  we  are  now  designing  a  set  of  four  sim- 
ilar canal  lifts  for  the  Belgian  government,  in  which  the  weight 
raised  will  be  somewhat  larger.  It  is  evident  that  a  few  presses 
such  as  these  would  more  than  accomplish  the  work  required. 

Our  ordinary  depositing  dock,  similar  to  that  at  Sebastopol, 
which  raises  vessels  of  (>,000  tons,  would  also  meet  the  require- 
ments of  the  case  very  satisfactorily.  We  are  now  constructing 
a  second  of  these  docks,  of  10,000  tons,  for  the  Russian  govern- 
ment at  Vladivostok,  and  a  third,  of  3,000  tons,  for  the  Barrow 
and  Railway  Company,  at  Barrow-in-Furness,  to  be  after- 
wards increased  to  5,000  tons.  We  have  designed  one  of  these 
docks  for  the  Italian  government,  to  raise  iron-clads  of  15,000 
tons'  weight  with  a  lift  of  30  feet.  There  would  be  no  difficulty 
in  modifying  the  proportions  so  as  to  render  it  suitable  for  a  lift 
of  46  feet,  and  this  form  of  dock  raises  the  vessels  out  of  the 
water  and  deposits  them  on  a  gridiron  stage  in  a  most  convenient 
manner  for  railway  transport. 

It  will  probably  depend  to  a  great  extent  on  their  relative  cost 
as  to  which  of  these  systems  may  be  adopted,  and  we  shall  be 
prepared  at  any  time  to  go  into  the  necessary  calculations,  and 
render  every  assistance  in  our  power  towards  the  accomplishment 
of  the  great  work  in  which  you  are  engaged. 

We  apprehend  no  difficulty  in  perfecting  the  necessary  details 
of  the  plans  so  as  to  insure  the  safe  transportation  of  the  largest 
loaded  ships  on  the  railway  cars  with  absolute  safety. 

We  remain,  dear  sir,  yours  faithfully, 

Clark  &  Standfield. 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  13 

The  writers  of  the  following  letter  are  the  contracting  engineers  who 
constructed  the  Anderton  Lift  and  the  hydraulic  docks  at  Malta  and  at 
Bombay.  The  execution  of  these  works  was  so  satisfactory  as  to  prompt 
the  most  flattering  testimonials  in  their  behalf:  — 

Heatox  Founduy,  Stockport,  October  1,  1881. 

Jamks  B.  Eads,  Esq.,  C.  E. 

My  Dear  Sir :  — When  you  are  i-eady  to  commence  the  con- 
struction of  your  ship  railway,  we  shall  be  pleased  to  undertake 
the  building  and  completion  of  the  necessary  works  for  placing 
the  ship,  with  her  cargo,  on  the  railway  track,  ready  for  attaching 
the  locomotives  to  her,  and  after  transport  across  the  Isthmus  to 
lower  her  safely  again  until  she  is  afloat.  A  lifting  apparatus  will  be 
required  at  each  side  of  the  Isthmus  which  will  lift  or  lower  ships 
as  required.  This  portion  of  the  work  we  are  fully  prepared  to 
execute  with  the  greatest  promptness,  on  the  same  terms  on  which 
we  built  the  hydraulic  docks  at  Bombay  and  Malta,  and  the  An- 
derton Canal  Lift  in  Cheshire. 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  guaranteeing  the  lifting  of  a  fully 
loaded  ship  or  steamer  of  8,000  or  10,000  tons'  weight  on  a  rail- 
way car  from  the  sea  or  harbor  level  to  that  of  your  permanent 
way  in  30  minutes,  with  absolute  safety  to  the  ship  and  the  works 
where  the  lift  is  not  over  50  feet  vertically.  We  will  undertake  to 
construct  all  the  plans  and  works  necessary  to  do  this  at  each  end 
of  your  line,  and  complete  everything  ready  for  attaching  the  loco- 
motive to  the  car  on  which  the  ship  is  to  be  lifted  and  transported ; 
this  car,  or  any  number  of  them,  we  will  furnish  also. 

The  locomotives  and  railway  construction  are  not  in  our  line ; 
))ut  if  it  were  a  matter  of  importance  to  cover,  in  addition,  the 
construction  of  the  locomotives,  turn-tables,  etc.,  and  ten  miles  of 
railway,  as  proposed  by  you  to  the  United  States,  we  have  no 
iloubt  we  could  unite  with  us  some  other  responsible  parties  en- 
gaged in  that  kind  of  works,  to  execute  them  and  guarantee  the 
safe  transportation  of  the  loaded  ships  of  the  weight  menl;ioned, 
over  the  railway.     VerN'  truly  yours, 

Emmerson,  Murgatroyd  &  Co. 


The  following  letter  is  from  W.  Pearce,  Esq.,  who  is  the  sole  proprie- 
tor of  John  Elder  &  Company's  works,  Govan,  Glasgow.  These 
works  are  so  celebrated  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  a  great  many 


14  LETTERS    FROM 

of  the  finest  and  largest  steamers  trading  between  New  York  and  Great 
Britain  were  constructed  in  them : — 

Fairfield  Works, 

GrOVAN,  NEAR  GLASGOW,  26th  AugUSt,    1881. 

My  Dear  Sir  Edward  :  — 

In  replying  to  the  letter  enclosed  in  your  note  to  me  of  the 
17th  inst.,  I  would  observe  that  the  constant  use  of  iron  floating 
docks  proves  that  the  largest  ships,  including  heavy  armour  clads, 
may  be  lifted  out  of  the  water  without  any  damage,  and  also  that 
loaded  ships  may  be  lifted  upon  the  same  conditions  as  if  they 
were  put  into  a  graving-dock  loaded. 

I  am  of  opinion,  from  what  I  know  of  the  working  of  iron 
floating  docks  that  I  have  designed  and  built,  that  iron  steamers  of 
4,000  to  5,000  tons'  displacement  may  be  docked,  loaded,  without 
any  injury  whatever. 

It  is  also  m}'  opinion  that  a  ship  railway  for  vessels  of  this 
size  may  be  constructed  and  worked  successfully,  pi'ovided  the 
land  is  solid  and  the  line  moderately  level, 

I  remain,  my  dear  Sir  Edward, 

Yours  faithfully, 

Wm.  Pearce. 

Sir  E.  J.  Reed,  K.  C,  B,,  M,  P. 


The  writer  of  the  following  letter,  Mr.  B.  Baker,  is  the  partner  of 
Mr.  John  Fowler,  C.  E.,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  engineers 
in  London : — 

2  QiEEN  Square  Place, 
Westminster,  September  13,  1881. 
Dear  Captain  Eads  :  — 

As  you  are  aware,  I  have  during  the  past  twentj'^  years  had 
occasion  to  consider,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Fowler,  many  novel 
problems,  and  amongst  them  the  transport  of  laden  vessels  by  rail 
and  by  pontoon.  One  project  elaborated  by  us  Avas  a  ship-incline 
at  the  First  Cataract  of  the  Nile,  and  another  was  a  ship-canal 
from  Alexandria,  through  Cairo,  to  Suez.  The  latter  project 
involved  the  elevation  of  the  largest  ocean  steamships  high  and 
dry  on  shallow  pontoons  for  the  purpose  of  passing  them  across 
the  Nile   at  low  summer  level.     Political  jealousies  alone  have 


LEADING  ENGINEERS  AND  NAVAL  ARCHITECTS.     15 

delayed  the  execution  of  this  work.  English  and  French  cajjital- 
ists  are  still  prepared  to  find  the  required  £10,000,000,  and  ship- 
owners to  entrust  their  laden  vessels  to  the  pontoons. 

Whether  a  ship  be  placed  on  a  railway  car  or  on  a  pontoon  will 
obviously  not  affect  the  question  of  the  safety  of  her  being  lifted 
high  and  drj^  when  fully  laden.  When  critics  have  expressed  to  me 
their  opinion  that  a  ship  would  be  injured  by  so  doing,  I  have 
invited  them  to  condescend  to  a  little  more  detail,  and  to  point  out 
which  bottom  plate  would  be  bulged,  which  frame  bent,  which 
l)utt-joint  opened,  and  why?  The  general  laws  affecting  the  streugtli 
of  materials  apply  to  iron  and  steel  ships  as  to  other  metallic 
structures,  and  in  order  to  s1k)w  that  any  of  the  above  injuries 
could  result,  I  have  satisfied  myself,  by  long  and  careful  investi- 
gation, it  is  first  necessary  to  assume  either  criminal  negligence  or 
a  singularly  badly  designed  car.  In  other  words,  apart  from  all 
practical  experience  in  dry  docks  and  elsewhere,  it  can  be  theoret- 
ically demonstrated  that  a  vessel  which  would  not  break  up  at  sea 
in  an  ordinary  gale,  would  not  be  injured  by  transport  in  a  well- 
constructed  car,  on  a  suitably  formed  railway. 

With  reference  to  the  latter  point  I  am  prepared  to  admit  that  a 
railway  which  may  be  all  that  could  be  desired  for  the  high-speed 
transit  of  an  articulated  railway  train,  is  not  necessarily  suitably 
formed  for  the  transport,  at  comparatively  low  speeds,  of  a  long, 
rigid  car  and  ship.  Elasticity  is  one  of  the  chief  desiderata  in  the 
first  case. while  perfect  immobility  is  the  most  important  in  the  sec- 
ond. In  rock  cuttings  perfect  immobility  is  clearly  at  once  attaina- 
ble, by  simply  laying  the  steel  rails  direct  on  the  rock  and  holding 
them  down  by  spikes  driven  into  oak  trenails  fixed  in  holes  dnlled 
in  the  rock.  This  may,  perhaps,  appear  a  bold  and  novel  experi- 
ment to  some  engineers,  but  it  is  nothing  of  the  sort.  About  thir- 
ty-five years  ago  a  i)ortion  of  the  Leeds  and  Manchester  Railway 
was  so  laid,  the  cast-iron  chairs  being  spiked  directly  to  the  rock ; 
and  the  system,  though  necessarily  too  hard  and  rigid  for  fast 
trains,  proved  quite  satisf actor}'  for  slow-speed  traffic.  In  ordi- 
nary cuttings  through  soft  soil,  immobility  would,  in  my  opinion,  be 
best  attained  by  reverting  to  the  old  plan  of  stone  block  sleepers, 
and  bedding  them  in  a  continuous  foundation  of  concrete  hud 
under  each  rail.  In  the  case  of  embankments,  special  precautions 
would  be  required  to  attain  immobility.  I  miderstand  tliat  the 
banks  will  be  formed  of  the  material  taken  from  the  rock  cuttings, 


16  LETTERS    FROM 

and  nothing  better  for  the  purpose  could  be  desired.  It  is  neces- 
sary, however,  to  remember  that  the  voids  in  a  rubble  bank  consti- 
tute about  thirty  to  forty  per  cent  of  the  whole  contents,  and  that 
such  banks  are  liable  for  some  years  to  considei-able  and  unequal 
settlement,  unless  these  voids  are  previously  filled  with  smaller 
materials.  At  Alderney  Breakwater,  for  instance,  although  the 
rubble  mound  was  allowed  three  years  to  settle  before  the  masonry 
superstructure  was  commenced,  the  latter  sunk  about  six  feet  into 
the  mound,  in  places.  In  my  own  practice,  I  have  found  that  all 
settlement  is  obviated  if  a  proper  proportion  of  sand  and  gravel 
or  quarry  rid  be  tipped  with  the  rubble,  and  the  bank  be  watered 
liberally  as  it  is  brought  up.  If  you  adopt  this  plan,  and  take  the 
additional  precaution  of  running  a  twenty-ton  steam  road  roller  a 
few  times  along  the  line  of  each  rail-bed  preWous  to  putting  on 
the  concrete  foundation  for  the  stone  block  sleepers,  you  will,  I 
have  no  doubt,  attain  as  perfect  immobility  on  the  banks  as  else- 
where. 

It  will  be  self-evident  to  most  persons  that  ship-owners  would 
much  prefer  to  entrust  their  ships  to  a  special  roadway,  as  true 
and  inflexible  as  a  lathe-bed,  than  to  an  ordinary  elastic  railway, 
the  truth  of  which  would  be  dependent  upon  the  care  bestowed  by 
the  plate-layers  in  packing  the  sleepers.  The  saving  in  main- 
tenance is  also  self-evident,  for  with  good  80  pound  steel  rails 
spiked  to  2  feet  square  by  1  foot. thick  stone  sleepers  bedded  upon 
a  continuous  layer  of  Portland  cement  concrete  2  feet  6  inches 
wide  by  1  foot  thick,  the  road  should  not  require  touching  for  ten 
years.  Some  engineers  may  doubt  the  propriety"  of  dispensing 
with  the  elastic  timber  sleepers  and  bedding  the  rails  direct  on 
stone  and  concrete,  therefore  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words 
on  that  point. 

Firstly,  I  would  quote  the  following  opinion  of  Stephenson, 
expressed  at  the  Inst,  of  C.  E,  long  ago,  at  the  time  when  about 
one-half  of  the  railways  in  this  country  were  laid  with  stone  blocks 
and  the  other  half  with  wooden  sleepers :  ' '  Stone  blocks  suffice 
for  a  railway  for  the  conveyance  of  heavy  minerals  at  a  speed  of 
about  twelve  miles  an  hour ; ' '  indeed,  he  thought  ' '  a  stone  block 
road  offered  less  resistance  than  a  timber  sleeper  road,  and  with 
these  slow  trains  resistance  is  a  very  important  object." 

Again,  I  would  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  result  of  our 
experience  with  tramways,  subject  to  the  enormous  wear  and  tear 


LEADING   ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  17 

of  London  traffic,  is  the  adoption  of  a  deep-flanged  rail  bedded 
direct  npon  a  solid  concrete  foundation  without  the  interposition 
of  any  elastic  medium. 

Finally,  I  would  mention  that  aliout  three  years  ago  stone  blocks 
were  re-introduced  on  a  heavily  worked  mineral  line  in  Cornwall 
with  entire  success  and  with  the  cordial  api)roval  of  the  govern- 
ment inspectors.  The  cost  of  maintenance  has  proved  to  be 
light,  and  it  is  found  that  with  the  modern  tj'pe  of  foot  rail  prop- 
erly fished,  the  fastenings  no  longer  work  loose  as  in  the  old  block 
roads,  and  the  railway,  for  all  practical  purposes,  is  as  noiseless 
as  the  best  maintained  timber  sleeper  lines. 

I  have  explained  at  some  length  what  I  understand  by  the  term 
a  suitably  formed  railway,  because  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the 
success  of  your  novel  and  difficult  undertaking  will  depend  upon 
attention  to  details.  I  am  further  of  opinion  that  ship-owners  are 
entitled  to  demand  that  the  shij)  railway  shall  be  something  far 
more  solid  and  immobile  than  an  ordinary  railway,  even  though 
the  weight  upon  the  car  wheels  be  no  more  than  usual.  With  this 
principle  admitted,  the  public,  I  feel  sure,  will  have  full  confidence 
in  your  ability  to  carry  your  project  to  a  successful  conclusion. 
Yours  faithfully, 

B.  Baker. 

Captain  Eads. 


Mr.  Francis  Elgar,  the  writer  of  the  following  letter,  is  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  School  of  Naval  Architecture,  and  was  until  recently  general  man- 
ager of  Earle's  Ship-building  and  Engineering  Co.,  and  is  a  naval  archi- 
tect of  recognized  abilities :  — 

Broadway  Cha>ibers,  Westminster, 
London,  S.  W.,  29th  August,  1881. 
My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  carefully  considered  the  letter  from 
Capt.  J.  B.  Eads,  of  which  3'ou  sent  me  a  copy,  respecting  the 
practicability  of  raising  loaded  vessels  out  of  the  water,  and 
transporting  them  by  railway  over  a  tolerably  level  country  with 
safety. 

1.  As  to  raising  a  fully  loaded  ship  out   of  the  water:    It  is 

surely  practicable  to  arrange  for  doing  this  without  risk  of  injuiy 

to  a  well-built  ship.     Vessels  more  or  less  fully  laden  have  been 

occasionally  docked  in  a  dry  dock  in  this  country  in  emergencies, 

2 


18  LETTERS    FROM 

and  more  frequently  abroad ;  and  thej^  have  also  been  lifted  out 
of  the  water  by  hydraulic  appliances  such  as  the  hj^draulic  dock 
at  Malta.  Ships  of  war,  with  bottoms  much  weaker  and  less 
adapted  for  enduring  the  strains  of  docking  than  ordinary  mer- 
chant vessels,  have  also  been  docked  with  all  their  principal 
weights,  such  as  armor,  guns,  stores,  etc.,  onboard.  When  one 
sees  the  rough  way  in  which  iron  steamers  are  sometimes  docked 
and  slipped  without  injury  when  light,  but  with  engines  and  boil- 
ers on  board,  and  the  small  amount  of  support  they  get  during  the 
process,  there  can  be  little  question  of  their  being  able  to  stand 
the  strain  of  docking  or  lifting  out  of  the  water  with  a  full  cargo, 
if  me^is  are  devised  for  doing  it  by  which  the  bottoms  and  bilges 
and  some  portions  of  the  sides  will  be  well  supported. 

2.  As  to  transporting  a  loaded  vessel  by  railway  over  a  tolerably 
level  country,  I  see  no  reason  to  prevent  rails  being  laid  and  a 
cradle  constructed  to  run  upon  it  that  will  carry  a  loaded  ship  at  a 
moderate  speed  through  the  country  without  risk  of  injur}-.  The 
cradle  will  require  to  be  arranged  so  that  the  bottom  of  the  ship 
shall  receive  continuous  support  over  as  much  of  its  surface  as 
possible,  and  it  should  be  practicable  to  do  this  so  that  any  strain- 
ing caused  by  this  railway  transport  will  not  exceed  that  met  with 
by  ships  under  the  other  conditions  of  their  employment. 
I  am,  dear  sir. 

Yours  very  faithfully, 

Fkan.  Elgak. 

Sir  E.  J.  Reed,  K.  C.  B.  ,  M.  P. 


Don  Francisco  de  Garay,  the  writer  of  the  following,  has  been  made  a 
member  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  by  the  French  government  as  a  recogni- 
tion of  his  eminent  abilities  as  a  civil  engineer.  He  is  at  present  en- 
gineer of  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  and  was  sent  by  the  Mexican  government 
to  the  canal  convention  at  Paris  in  1879. 


Mexico,  September  22,  1881. 
Dear  Sir :  —  I  have  been  greatly  surprised  to  read  in  a  news- 
paper that  Captain  Phelps  had  stated  that  Mr.  McAlpine  had 
informed  him  that  ' '  your  engineer ' '  had  selected  a  route  for  the 
ship  railway  which  involved  a  cutting  in  one  place  800  feet  deep. 
As  I  am  the  engineer  referred  to,  I  feel  myself  bound  to  rectify 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  19 

this  gross  error,  without  being  able  to  understand  how  such  a 
great  mistake  has  been  made. 

By  the  profile  of  my  line  (of  which  you  have  a  copy)  it  can 
be  seen  that  the  deepest  cutting  exists  at  Banco  IVfarques,  on 
the  western  slope  of  the  hills  that  line  it  on  that  side  the  Pass  of 
Chivela.  That  cut  is  312  feet  maximum  depth,  but  the  ridge  that 
it  divides  has  only  2,500  feet  in  thickness. 

I  have  felt  also  some  surprise  at  reading  Mr.  McAlpine's  letter 
to  Admiral  Ammen,  dated  June  3rd.  I  have  not  the  pretension 
to  refute  Mr.  McAlpine's  criticisms,  but  I  must  give  some  explana- 
tions about  the  location  of  the  railway  line  that  I  made. in  the 
Isthmus.  That  line  for  the  present  is  oulj'  a  study ;  it  may  be 
modified,  but  on  the  whole  I  think  that  it  is  in  the  right  place.  It 
comprises  the  most  diflScult  part  of  the  route.  It  has  been  traced 
with  the  transit  and  the  level  right  across  the  mountain  ridges  by 
the  Chivela  Pass,  in  a  single  straight  line,  from  the  suberb  of  San 
Bias,  near  Tehuantepec,  to  the  borders  of  the  Chichihua  River,  in 
a  distance  of  40  miles.  The  country  is  very  rough,  but  owing  to 
the  geological  formation  of  the  soil,  the  work  of  excavation  and 
filling  will  be  easy.  The  dividing  ridge  between  the  two  oceans 
in  the  Isthmus  runs  east  and  west.  The  nucleus  of  the  range  is 
formed  of  blue  limestone,  covered  by  a  formation  of  shale  that  has 
been  upheaved,  and  which  constitutes  the  lower  parallel  hill  i-anges, 
with  very  steep  slopes. 

The  line  which  I  have  run  cuts  all  the  ranges  alniost  perpendic- 
ularl}^  forming  numerous  peaks,  very  difficult  of  access  for  the 
engineer,  but  most  convenient  for  blasting,  as  well  as  for  the  solid 
establishment  and  drainage  of  the  way.  In  all  the  distance  sur- 
veyed by  me,  from  the  Chichihua  to  Tehuantepec,  there  is  no 
change  of  line.  In  Tehuantepec,  or  near  it,  there  must  be  a  turn- 
table to  direct  the  railway  to  the  Bay  of  Salina  Cruz,  or  to  the 
Upper  Lagoon.  I  must  here  observe  that  I  have  never  proposed 
to  carry  the  railway  across  the  coast  range  to  Shipehua  Bay.  On 
the  contrary,  on  mj'^  return  to  Tehuantepec  from  the  Pacific  coast,  1 
gave  it  as  my  opinion  to  Mr.  ^Ic Alpine  (on  l)eing  asked  by  him), 
that  no  railway  could  be  conveniently  carried  across  the  Sierra 
Alta  range,  and  that  the  best  and  only  way  to  reach  Shipehua  was 
by  Salina  Cruz,  and  thence  following  the  coast,  tunneling  through 
all  the  promontories  that  divide  the  bays.  With  a  ship  railway 
even  that  line  is  impossible. 


20  LETTERS    FROM 

Now  with  regard  to  grades :  I  have  no  grade  on  my  line  above 
two  per  cent,  and  for  no  greater  distance  than  two  and  a  half  miles. 
The  ascent  to  the  summit,  as  well  as  the  descent,  are  constant, 
but  divided  in  different  short  sections. 

To  resume  what  we  have  said,  we  see:  — 

1st.  That  the  line  traced  and  located  by  our  commission  for 
the  present  is  only  a  study,  that  may  be  improved  and  perhaps 
even  abandoned  for  a  better  line,  if,  in  subsequent  surveys,  more 
favorable  ground  is  found. 

2d.  That  such,  as  it  has  been  traced  and  located,  the  line  from 
the  Pacific  to  the  Chichihua  River,  has  only  one  break  in  a  dis- 
tance of  fifty  miles. 

3rd.  That  in  all  the  line  there  is  no  grade  greater  than  two  per 
cent,  and  in  no  greater  distance  than  two  and  a  half  miles. 

4th.  That  the  greatest  cutting  is  312  feet  in  maximum  depth, 
and  2,500  feet  in  length. 

5tli.  And  finally,  that  the  results  obtained  hav6  demonstrated 
the  entire  practicability  of  the  ship  railway,  which  was  the  main 
object  for  which  tlie  commission  was  sent  to  the  Isthmus.  I  have 
no  dou.bt  that  3^ou  will  be  able  to  answer  the  objections  that  Mr. 
McAlpine  makes  to  your  plans.  For  my  part,  I  am  quite  satisfied 
with  his  final  declaration,  as  he  admits  the  whole  question  in  his 
statement  that  the  ships  cannot  be  carried  at  a  greater  speed  than 
one  mile  an  hour  over  the  railway.  This  would  he  only  six  days 
from  sea  to  sea,  by  the  route  of  Tehuantepec,  and  would  even  then 
be  a  saving  of  time  and  distance  between  the  east  and  west  coast 
of  "North  America  over  any  other  line  by  Nicaragua  or  Panama. 
Besides,  we  must  not  forget  that  when  the  Liverpool  and  Manches- 
ter road  was  opened,  a  speed  of  sijf  miles  an  hour  was  considered 
almost  impossible;  to-day,  on  the  same  railway,  the  trains  run 
sixty  miles  an  hour.  If  we  begin  with  one  mile  on  the  ship  rail- 
way, before  long  we  will  run  ten  or  fifteen. 

Although  most  of  the  data  put  in  this  letter  were  already  known 
to  you,  I  have  thought  it  proper  to  set  them  again  before  your 
eyes,  hoping  that  they  may  be  of  use  to  you. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Francisco  de  Garay. 

Tt)  James  B.  Eads. 

The  writer  of  the  following,   William  Sooy  Smith,  is  an  American 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  21 

engineer  of  great  experience  and  ability.  lie  designed  and  constructed 
some  of  the  most  important  railroads  and  bridges  in  tiie  United  States, 
and  lie  is  now  in  cliarge  of  the  tunnel  under  the  Hudson  River,  which 
was  placed  in  his  care  after  the  occurrence  of  the  frightful  accident  at 
that  work  in  1880:  — 

New  York,  July  15,   1881. 
Captaix  James  B.  Eads. 

Dear  Sir:  —  As  part  of  the  designs  of  a  canal  around  Niagara 
Falls  on  the  American  side,  which  I  made  in  the  year  1857,  I 
planned  a  ship  railroad  to  carry  vessels  navigating  the  Western 
lakes  down  the  side  of  what  is  called  the  mountain,  near  Lewiston. 

The  study  given  to  the  subject  at  that  time  convinced  me  of 
the  entire  practicability  of  moving  ships  of  the  largest  size  over 
land  safely,  expeditiously,  and  economicall}-.  This  conviction  has 
been  strengthened  b}^  all  the  investigations  and  observations  made 
upon  the  subject  ever  since. 

I  was  told  by  learned  Greeks  in  Athens  that  their  countrymen 
built  and  used  a  ship  railway  to  transfer  ships  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Corinth  long  before  the  Christian  era. 

Ship  railways  on  a  small  scale  have  long  been  in  successful 
operation,  both  in  this  countrj'  and  Europe,  and  anyone  who  has 
seen  the  large  ocean  steamers  now  in  use  launched,  cannot  fail  to 
pass  by  an  easy  transmission  from  the  very  cheap  and  temporary 
' '  waj^s  ' '  which  carry  them  so  easily  into  the  water,  to  a  well- 
constructed  railway  with  a  suitable  number  of  firmly-built  tracks, 
over  which  these  steamers  with  their  cargoes  can  be  hauled  rapidly 
and  safelv. 

I  should  be  sorry  to  doubt  that  the  mechanical  skill  of  our 
country  will  prove  equal  to  the  task  of  planning  and  building 
such  a  road,  and  all  the  necessary  appurtenances,  in  the  way  of 
cradles,  to  carry  ships  of  the  largest  size,  and  traction  engines  to 
haul  them.  This  will  be  but  the  larger  development  of  a  system 
which  is  already  in  successful  operation  —  and  such  larger  devel- 
opment the  needs  of  the  present  demand. 

I  believe  you  can  work  it  out,  and  I  think  you  have  selected  the 
best  possible  place  in  which  to  prove  it  both  practicable  and  prof- 
itable. You  have  my  best  wishes  for  tlie  success  of  your  great 
ship  railway.     Very  truly  yours, 

William  Sooy  Smith. 


22  LETTERS    FROM 

The  following  is  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  ablest  constructors  in  the 
United  States  Navy :  — 

Orange,  New  Jersey,  January  22,  1881. 
Mr.  James  B.  Eads. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  have  watched  with  great  interest  the  efforts  you 
are  making  to  establish  communication  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  the  Pacific  Ocean  for  sea-going  vessels  by  means  of  a  ship 
railway.  In  this  effort  I  hope  you  will  have  success.  With  a 
substantial  road-bed  for  your  railwaj^,  on  the  easy  grades  across 
Tehuantepec,  which,  I  understand,  do  not  exceed  one  or  two  feet 
in  the  hundred,  there  can  be  no  mechanical  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  transporting  loaded  ships  b}'^  railroad  ^with  entire  safety  to  the 
vessel,  whether  they  be  built  of  wood  or  iron.  With  a  sufficient 
number  of  rails  on  the  road-bed,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  wheels 
to  distribute  the  weight  in  the  manner  proposed  by  you,  the  trans- 
portation of  a  fully  loaded  vessel  without  straining  her  hull  will 
be  assured.  The  speed  with  which  3'ou  can  move  the  vessel  will 
depend  entirely  upon  the  size  and  number  of  your  locomotives. 
What  weight  and  power  they  should  possess  to  move  the  largest 
vessels  used  in  commerce  at  a  speed  of  ten  miles  an  hour,  over 
your  maximum  grades,  is  a  matter  which  experienced  railroad 
engineers  will  be  able  to  deteimine  with  great  accuracy. 

The  ship  railway  plan  possesses  the  advantage  of  more  rapid 
transit  for  the  vessels,  and  its  capacity  could  easily  be  increased 
to  meet  the  future  wants  of  commerce. 
Very  truly  yours, 

Edward  Hartt, 
United  States  Naval  Constructor. 


The  following  is  from  another  United  States  naval  constructor,  of  rec- 
ognized ability  and  talent: — 

Philadelphia,  February  7,  1881. 
James  B.  Eads,  Esq.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  —  Ha\ang  carefully  examined  the  plans  and  papers, 
pertaining  to  your  proposed  ship  railway  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Tehuantepec,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  my  judgment  there 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL   ARCHITECTS.  23 

will  be  no  difficulty  whatever  in  transporting,  in  the  manner  you 
propose,  any  properly  built  vessel  with  absolute  safety. 

Your  railway  will  possess  one  quite  important  advantage  over 
the  ordinary  canal,  and  that  is,  that  the  vessel's  bottom,  propellor, 
etc.,  can  be  examined,  and,  if  necessary,  cleaned  in  transit,  and 
repairs  of  whatsoever  nature  can  be  made  wherever  it  is  practi- 
cable to  construct  suitable  sidings,  transfer- tables,  shops,  etc., 
more  economically,  other  things  being  equal,  than  in  a  dry-dock. 

Your  well-known  skill  as  a  scientific  and  practical  engineer  is  a 
sufficient  guarantee  that  this  great  undertaking  will  receive  careful 
consideration  in  every  detail,  and  that  it  will  be  a  success,  both 
as  an  engineering  achievement  and  a  financial  investment. 

Wishing  you  all  the  success  possible,  I  remain 

Your  obedient  servant, 

H.  L.  FeunaLd, 
Naval  Constructor,  U.  S.  N. 


The  following  is  from  the  distinguished  engineer  who  is  President  of 
the  Mississippi  River  Commission:  — 

New  York,  January  21,  1881. 
James  B.  Eads,  Esq.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  note  of 
the  17th  instant,  relating  to  your  project  of  a  ship  railway  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec. 

In  my  judgment  the  construction  of  a  ship  railway  across  the 
Mexican  Isthmus,  in  general  accordance  with  your  plan,  is  not  only 
feasible  as  an  engineering  problem,  but  the  successful  maintenance 
and  operation  of  such  a  road  is  entirely  practicable  as  a  business 
enterprise.  This  assumes  that  your  engineers  will  find  a  route  of 
suitable  alignment  and  grades,  a  question  of  prompt  and  easy 
solution,  upon  which  your  information  is  much  greater  and  better 
than  mine. 

In  pushing  forward  this  great  project,  I  wish  you  that  full 
measure  of  complete  success  which  your  will,  energy,  and  prestige 
as  an  engineer  are  so  well  calculated  to  command.- 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Q.   A.   GiLMORE, 

Lieut. -Col.  Engineera,  Brevet  Major-Gen. 


24  LETTERS    FROM 

The  following  is  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Henry  Flad,  a  distinguished 
civil  engineer,  President  of  the  Board  of  Public  Worlcs  in  St.  Louis :  — 

To  E.    W.  Fox,    Esq.,    Publisher  Exporter    and    Importer^   St. 
Louis,  Mo. 

Dear  Sir :  —  In  reply  to  your  request  that  I  give  my  views  in 
regard  to  the  ship  railroad  proposed  by  Captain  James  B.  Eads,  I 
beg  to  state  my  opinions : — 

First.  That  the  first  cost  of  the  construction  of  a  ship  railroad 
will  not  be  one-fourth  of  that  of  a  ship" canal. 

Second.  That  a  ship  railroad  can  be  constructed  in  probably 
one-third  of  the  time  required  to  construct  a  canal. 

Third.  That  ships  can  be  transported  on  such  a  railroad  with 
absolute  safety,  and  with  the  same  dispatch  as  through  a  canal. 

Fourth..  That  the  cost  of  maintenance  will  be  less  for  a  railroad 
than  for  the  canal. 

Fifth.  That  although  the  cost  of  transferring  ships  by  railroad 
will  exceed  that  of  passing  them  through  a  canal,  the  difference 
will  be  insignificant  compared  with  the  saving  of  interest  on  the 
first  cost. 

Sixth.  That  the  ship  railroad  will,  therefore,  offer  a  safer  and 
better  investment  for  capital.     Very  respectfully^, 

Henry  Flad,  C.  E. 

Mr.  0.  Chanute,  the  accomplished  and  experienced  civil  engineer,  who 
is  superintendent  of  the  Erie  Railway,  says  in  a  letter  to  me :  — 

"  I  am  much  pleased  to  find  in  this  morning's  Tribune  your  very 
able  and  clear  presentation  for  a  scheme  for  a  marine  railway  across 
the  Isthmus ;  the  rather  as  I  gave  some  attention  to  the  subject 
myself  nearly  a  year  ago,  and  reached  conclusions  almost  identi- 
cal with  yours,  as  'to  the  feasibility  and  general  features  of  the 
project.  *  *  *  I  gee  ^q  reason  why  the  railway  should  not 
be  worked  at  ten  miles  per  hour,  and  assuming  it  to  be  sixty  miles 
long,  why  a  steamer  can  not  be  transferred  from  ocean  to  ocean 
in  twelve  hours. " 

The  following  is  a  letter  addressed  to  me  by  Commodore  R.  W.  Shu- 
feldt,  U.  S.  N.,  the  accomplished  officer  who  surveyed  the  Isthmus  of 
Tehuantepec :  — 

Washington.  D.  C,  January  21st. 
Mr.  James  B.  Eads,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — I  forward  to  you  with  great  pleasure,  an  extract  of 


LEADING  ENGINEERS  AND  NAVAL  ARCHITECTS.     25 

a  letter  from  Commodore  Farquhar,  commanding  United  States 

ship  •'  Quinnebaug,"  at  present  at  Alexandria,  Egypt. 

******* 

"  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  Tehuantepec  possesses  the  best  route 
for  transit.  I  do  not  see  why  a  railroad  capable  of  carrying  a  ship 
could  not  be  built,  and  why  the  long  slopes  of  our  route  should 
not  be  best.  The  fact  of  a  harbor  twenty-five  miles  long,  on  the 
Atlantic  side,  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  more  so  than  the  one 
on  the  Pacific  shore,  because  that  is  almost  always  a  weather  shore 
in  that  latitude." 

I  send  3'ou  the  extract  as  a  disinterested  opinion  of  an  accom- 
plished naval  ofl3cer,  not  only  as  to  the  advantages  of  the  route 
of  Tehuantepec,  but  as  to  the  practicability  of  a  ship  railway  across 
the  Isthmus.     Veiy  truly  yours, 

R.  W.  Shufeldt,  U.  S.  N. 


The  well-known  and  able  civil  engineer,  Colonel  C.  Shaler  Smith,  in  a 
letter  last  year,  said  of  the  ship  railway,  to  the  editor  of  the  Exporter  and 
Importer:  — 

The  engineering  problems  involved  have  all  been  solved  on  a 
smaller  scale  in  the  construction  of  various  works  in  this  country 
and  in  Europe  during  the  past  thirty  years,  and  the  adaptation  of 
these  tried  and  proved  principles  of  mechanical  design  to  the  case 

in  hand  is  by  no  means  diflftcult. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

It  will  be  a  serious  reflection  on  the  enterprise  of  American 
capitalists,  the  science  of  American  engineers,  and  the  patriotism 
of  our  statesmen,  if  foreign  capital  and  foreign  skill  are  to  per- 
form the  work  of  severing  our  continents,  and  then  pocketing  the 
profits  of  an  enterprise  most  of  the  cost  of  which  must  eventually 
be  paid  by  our  citizens  in  the  shape  of  tolls  upon  our  bi-oceanie 
coasting  trade. 


The  following  is  from  a  member  of  the  Mississippi  River  Commission, 
formerly  State  Engineer  of  Louisiana,  and  an  engineer  of  acknowledged 
ability :  — 

New  Orleans,  February  9,  1881. 
Dear  Captain :  —  Your  letter  of  February  3rd,  in  answer  to  mine, 
is  just  received  after  "  accidents  by  flood  and  field."     The  most 


26  LETTERS    FROM 

terrific  gales  on  record  have  destroyed  many  miles  of  our  Eastern 
railroad  connections.  I  wish  we  had  as  stable  a  transit  as  your 
inter-oceanic  railway  project  promises  to  give.  I  h^ive  followed 
carefully  the  development  of  the  designs  of  this  enterprise  with 
increasing  confidence  in  their  practicability  and  correctness.  It 
seems  to  me  to  have  the  great  merits  of  excluding  the  necessarily 
uncertain  elements  in  the  estimate  for  any  canal ;  of  relying  upon 
the  experience  of  successful  engineering  works  differing  from  this 
only  in  magnitude ;  of  aA^oiding  a  direct  and  dangerous  conflict 
with  natural  obstacles,  such  as  the  damming  or  diversion  of  water- 
courses, the  control  of  floods,  etc. ;  of  latitude  in  choice  of 
location  pesulting  in  stability  and  economy ;  of  facility  and  rapidity 
of  construction,  maintenance,  and  repair,  and  of  an  easy  extension 
of  capacity  proportioned  to  an  increased  trade.  These  points, 
together  with  its  extremely  favorable  geographical  location,  give 
the  ship  railway,  in  my  judgment,  a  decided  advantage  over  other 
plans  for  Isthmus  transit.  I  shall  impatiently  wait  for  the  first 
through  train>.     Very  truly, 

B.  M.  Harrod. 


The  following  is  from  Mr.  T.  C.  Clarke,  of  the  firm  of  Clarke,  Reeves  & 
Co.,  one  of  the  most  able  and  successful  railroad  and  bridge  engineers  in 
the  United  States : — 

' '  I  am  desirous  that  my  opinion  should  be  put  on  record  that 
your  ship  railway  is  practicable  to  construct,  and  can  be  main- 
tained as  easily  as  any  other  railway  having  as  large  a  tonnage ; 
and  that  vessels  of  four  thousand  tons  can  be  carried  across  with- 
out injury  to  themselves  or  their  cargoes." 


The  following  is  from  Gen.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  formerly  a  member  of 
the  United  States  Corps  of  Engineers : — 

New  Orleans,  January  25,  1881. 
My  Dear  Sir:  —  I  take  pleasure  in  communicating  to  you,  in 
as  few  words  as  possible,  my  views  relative  to  the  practicability 
and  economy  of  a  ship  railway  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec. 
I  feel  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  I  see  no  diflSculty  in  construct- 
ing a  railway  strong  enough  to  carry  out  the  object  referred  to. 
It  is  only  a  question  of  the  strength  of  the  cradle  to  hold  the  ship, 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  27 

and  the  division  of  weight  on  a  sufficient  number  of  i-ails  and 
wheels,  which  can  certainly  be  accompUshed  by  any  engineer  of 
al)ility  and  ingenuity. 

As  to  the  danger  a  loaded  ship  would  incur  in  being  transported 
on  a  smooth  and  well-built  railway,  it  is  all  imaginary,  for  it  would 
be  well  braced  and '  cushioned  in  a  strong  car  or  platform, 
supported  by  spiral  steel  springs  on  a  very  large  number  of 
wheels  which,  being  separate  from  each  other,  could  be  easily 
replaced  if  broken  during  the  trip.  Moreover,  the  breaking  of 
one  or  a  few  of  them  out  of  so  many  would  not  endanger  the  rest. 

With  regard  to  the  economy  of  such  a  ship  railway,  I  would 
remark  that  the  tonnage  carried  over  it  being  moved  entirely  by 
machinery,  and  the  ratio  of  paying  cargo  to  dead  weight  being 
much  greater  than  on  ordinary  railroads,  the  cost  of  operating 
such  a  railway  must  be  much  less;  The  cost  of  maintenance 
should  be  also  less  in  proportion,  for  the  road  would  be  substan- 
tially built  and  short  in  comparison  to  the  amount  of  tonnage  car- 
ried over  it.  Moreover,  the  machinery  used  would  be  simple  and 
substantially  made.  It  is,  therefore,  safe  to  assume  that  the  cur- 
rent expenses  and  those  of  maintenance  would  not  exceed  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts,  which  would  be  more  profitable 
than  from  a  canal  costing  probably  two  or  three  times  more  than 
a  ship  railway',  and  requiring  three  or  four  times  longer  to  build, 
thereby  increasing  greatly  the  amount  of  interest  alone  on  the 
actual  cost  of  the  canal. 

A  ship  railway  has  other  important  advantages  over  a  canal, 
such  as  the  facility  with  which  the  number  of  trucks  could  be 
increased  to  accommodate  the  demands  of  commerce ;  the  rapidity 
of  transit  and  the  greater  number  of  vessels  per  day  that  could  be 
transported  than  through  a  canal ;  the  practicability  of  building  a 
railway  where  a  canal  would  be  impossible ;  the  ability  of  estimat- 
ing correctly  for  the  first,  while  the  latter,  if  partially  built  under 
the  water,  or  liable  to  be  submerged  or  interrupted  by  water, 
would  be  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  be  estimated  for  as 
to  cost  and  time  of  completion.    I  am,  yours  very  truly, 

G.  T.  Beauregard. 


Mr.  J.  J.  Williams,  a  very  able  engineer,  with  long  experience  in  rail- 


28  LETTERS    FROM 

road  building,  who  has  made  a  number  of  surveys  for  railroads  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  says :  — 

' '  I  have  been  greatly  interested  in  your  proposition  to  construct 
a  ship  railway  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  for  the  largest 
class  of  merchant  vessels.  Having  carefully  examined  the  de- 
tails of  your  plans  for  accomplishing  the  object,  and  being  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  topography  of  the  Isthmus,  I  desire  to 
express  my  full  conviction  of  their  entire  practicability." 


Mr.  E.  L.  Corthell,  the  engineer  of  the  bridge  across  the  Mississippi 
River  at  Louisiana,  and  of  the  Sny  Island  Improvement  Works, and  who  was 
resident  engineer  at  the  jetties  until  their  completion,  writes  as  follows: 

"  My  studies  of  the  engineering  difficulties  convince  me  that  they 
can  be  easily  overcome,  and  I  believe  the  ship  railway  for  the 
transportation  overland  of  the  largest  vessels  can  be  made  entire- 
ly successful,  and  that  ships  can  be  transported  more  rapidly  by 
the  railway  than  by  the  canal,  and  with  equal  safety." 


The  following  is  from  one  of  the  engineers  sent  by  the  L^nited  States  to 
Europe  to  investigate  the  improvement  of  the  mouths  of  rivers  there,  and 
to  report  upon  the  jetty  system.  He  is  likewise  an  experienced  railroad 
engineer : — 

Richmond,  February  5,  1881. 
James  B.  Eads,  Esq. 

My  Dear  Sir :  —  Why  should  not  j'^our  ship  railway  be  practi- 
cable ?  Ships  Jiave  been  hauled  on  marine  railways  for  I  know 
not  how  many  years,  and  the  hauling  of  larger  ships  a  longer 
distance  is  onlj'  a  development  or  expansion  of  this  practice,  as 
the  steel  roadway  worked  b}'  locomotives  is  the  development  of 
the  tramway,  or  the  old  incline  worked  by  stationary  power. 

The  idea  is  worthj-  of  the  age,  and  to  make  it  a  success  you 
have  simply  to  improve  and  expand  the  details  of  the  old  marine 
railway  and  make  it  more  perfect.  I  have  the  greatest  confidence 
in  your  ability  in  this  particular,  and  hope  you  will  have  the  oppor- 
tunit}'  to  demonstrate  it.  Very  Xv\\\y  3'ours, 

H.  D.  Whitcomb, 
Civil  Engineer  in  Charge  of  Improvement  of  James  Biver. 


LEADING  ENGINEERS  AND  NAVAL  ARCHITECTS.     29 

Tha  following  is  from  the  accomplished  and  able  engineer  in  charge 
of  the  improvement  of  the  Missouri  River:  — 

United  States  Engineer's  Office,  ) 

1351  Washincjton  Avexle,  St.  Louis,  January  31,  1881.  ) 
Dear  Captain :  —  I  have  watched  with  much  interest  the  devel- 
opment of  your  plan  for  the  construction  of  a  ship  railwa}'^  across 
the  Isthmus.  The  project  has  great  and  obvious  advantages  to 
recommend  it;  and  from  an  engineering  point  of  view,  it  is,  in  my 
opinion,  perfectly  practicable.  The  various  operations  contem- 
plated are  constantly  being  performed,  on  a  small  scale  at  least,  at 
all  the  great  seaports  of  the  world,  and  any  difficulties  which  might 
attend  their  extension  to  the  scale  you  propose,  could,  I  think,  he 
readily  met  by  suitable  mechanical  devices.  The  construction, 
maintenance,  and  operation  of  the  railroad  are  quite  within  the 
resources  of  our  profession. 

With  my  best  wishes  for  your  success,  I  am.  Captain, 
Yours  very  truly, 

Chas.  R.  Suteu, 
Major  of  Engineers,    U.  S.  A. 
Caft.  James  B.  Eads,  Washington,  D.  C. 


The  City  Engineer  of  Pittsburg,  a  gentleman  who  has  had  an  exten- 
sive practical  experience  in  engineering  works,  has  sent  the  following :  — 

City  Engineer's  Office,        ) 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  January  31,  1881.  j 
James  B.  Eads,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  heartily  indorse  the  project  of  a  ship  railway 
across  the  "  cord  of  the  continents,"  in  preference  to  a  canal.  My 
reasons  are  that  it  will  not  cost  more  than  about  one-third  as  much 
as  a  canal  with  locks ;  it  will  not  require  more  than  one-half 
of  the  time  to  construct  it  that  will  be  consumed  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  canal ;  it  will  cost  less  to  maintain  and  operate 
it  than  a  canal,  and  the  facilities  of  transportation  can  be  much 
more  readily,  cheaply,  and  advantageously  increased  on  the  railway 
than  on  a  canal  when  the  necessities  of  commerce  require  it,  and 
the  very  "leviathans  of  the  merchant  marine"  can  be  trans- 
ported more  easily  and  with  as  much  safety  on  the  rail- 
way  as   through   the    canal,    and   without   any   break  of   cargo, 


30  LETTERS    FROM 

or  any  danger  thereto.  It  would  extend  this  letter  to  too 
great  a  length  to  give  figures  to  ratify  the  statement  herein 
made,  but  they  will  substantiate  it  to  the  full ;  and  I  f ui;ther  state 
that  if  the  profits  of  the  ' '  canal  investment ' '  would  amount  to 
"five  per  cent"  those  of  the  railway  project  would  amount  to 
not  less  than  twentj"^  per  cent  on  the  investment,  and  verj'  prob- 
ably more ;  yea,  it  would  be  a  paying  investment  under  circum- 
stances of  disastrous  loss  to  the  canal  projectors ;  therefore,  in 
view  of  all  the  considerations  connected  therewith,  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  above  embodied. 

Hoping    that    j^ou  may  succeed  in  procuring    the    necessary- 
encouragement  and  substantial  aid  that  the  importance  of  the 
project  demands,  so  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  demonstrate  prac- 
tically the  truth  of  the  above  and  verify  the  assertions  made., 
I  am,  most  respectfully,  etc., 

A.  Dempster,   City  Engineer. 


The  writer  of  the  following  letter,  Mr.  Max  E.  Schmidt,  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  was  for  several  years  resi- 
dent engineer  at  the  jetties,  was  afterwards  in  charge  of  important  river 
improvements  on  the  upper  Mississippi,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  con- 
struction of  one  of  the  Mexican  railways.  He  is  an  engineer  of  acknowl- 
edged ability  and  standing :  — 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  March  22,  1881. 
Mr.  James  B.  Eads,  C.  E.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir:  —  In  1718  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  at  the  age  of  30, 
performed  a  "noble  feat  in  engineering  b}"  hauling  two  galleys, 
five  boats,  and  a  sloop  some  fourteen  miles  overland."  If  this 
could  be  accomplished  at  a  time  when  steam  and  hydraulic  engines 
were  unknown,  why  should  not  the  present  century  at  its  close 
witness  the  conveying  of  vessels  across  the  Isthmus  in  the  manner 
proposed  by  you?  I  have  studied  the  Isthmian  problem  with 
care,  and  am  convinced  that  the  railway  is  the  best  solution 
offered.  The  project  is  based  u{)on  sound,  well-known  mechan- 
ical principles,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  realization  of  the 
scheme  will  lead  to  its  frequent  duplication  in  the  future. 
Very  respectfully. 

Max  E.  ScHjnoT,  Civil  Engineer. 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  31 

The  following  is  from  the  distinguished  civil  engineer  who  is  now 
Dean  of  the  Department  of  Civil  Engineering  in  Cornell  University.  He 
was  the  Chief  Engineer  of  Commodore  Shufeldt's  Surveying  Expedition 
in  1872:—. 

Department  of  Civil  Engineering,  Cornell  University,  i 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  February  4,  1881.      ( 
Cavt.  James  B.  Eads. 

Dear  Sir :  —  My  surroundings  during  the  past  ten  years  have 
cut  me  out  from  taking  active  part  in  the  discussions  upon  trans- 
Isthmian  routes ;  but  I  have  never  lost  my  great  interest  in  this 
matter,  nor  doubted  what  I  have  put  on  record  several  times,  \\z. : 
' '  Tehuantepee  will  be  open  to  the  world  earlier  than  any  other 
route."  This  conviction  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  I  have  made  a 
thorough,  disinterested,  honest,  and  patriotic  study  of  nearly  all 
the  bearings  of  this  important  question,  and  my.  conclusions  are 
almost  mathematically  correct.  When  your  ship  railway  project 
ai)peared  and  was  ridiculed  by  inconsiderate  engineers,  I  made 
computations  which  proved  conchisively  to  mj^  mind  that  the 
"Great  Eastern"  could  be  carried  safely  overland  upon  rails, 
with  less  strain  to  her  timbers  than  in  any  of  her  sea  voyages. 
There  can  be  no  difficulty  about  wheel-base  enough  to  support  a 
weight  that  has  been  supported  in  the  ways  of  any  dock ;  or  about 
rails  upon  which  to  roll  the  weight ;  or  power  to  draw  it  at  any 
desirable  speed  ;  and  all  this,  with  absolute  safety  to  the  keel,  ribs, 
and  joint  points  of  any  vessel  (yet  built)  and  transported  out  of 
water.  No  bridge  that  is  now  in  use  undergoes  the  bendings, 
twistings,  and.  shaking  that  any  vessel  is  bound  to  withstand, 
upon  a  rough  sea,  without  opening  a  seam ;  and  yet,  no  one 
doubts  the  practicability  of  transporting  a  truss  by  rail.  In  fact, 
every  railroad  car  is  a  clumsily  made  truss.  I  am  well  acquain- 
ted with  the  data  obtained,  and  supposed  to  have  been  obtained, 
to  within  a  few  j'ears,  upon  the  subject;  and  I  am  perfectly 
familiar  with  every  possible  point  through  which  a  canal  could  be 
located  at  Tehuantepee. 

I  am  sure  it  is  easy  to  prove  that  all  routes  outside  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  will  be  detrimental  to  the  most  vital  interests  of  the 
United  States,  and  a  source  of  great  danger  to  our  national  stabil- 
ity. But  the  people  at  large  have  not  had  a  fair  opportunity  to 
study  this  question  so  as  to  place  more  faith  upon  its  merits  than 
upon  the  men  advocating  the  routes  proposed.     Time  must  take 


32  LETTERS    FROM 

its  course  to  allow  the  specific  truth  of  this  case  to  survive  the 
machinations  of  partisanship.  But  the  time  has  now  arrived  for 
effective  work  and  determined  action ;  and  I  thank  God  that  your 
brain,  reputation,  and  sledge-hammer  has  been  set  to  work  to  batter 
the  Isthmus  into  an  American  highway.  I  can  assure  you,  upon 
knowledge  of  every  inch  of  the  ground,  that  you  will  find  no  diflH- 
culty  about  curves,  grades,  or  bridges.  The  ascent  of  the  Atlantic 
slope  will  offer  no  more  difficulties  than  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  ; 
and  on  the  Pacific  side,  either  one  of  the  three  passes  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Tarif a  or  Chivela  will  allow  of  no  steeper  grade 
than  25  to  35  feet  per  mile  to  bring  you  down  to  the  Pacific  plains. 
The  ground  offers  you  50  miles  to  get  down  in,  and  as  much 
more  as  you  may  wish  by  following  the  hillside.  .  All  the  bridges 
required  will  be  of  comparatively  short  spans.  You  will  find  very 
little  anxious  work  on  either  terminal  harbor,  very  little  tentative 
work  being  required,  and  permanence  without  ulterior  complica- 
tions will  reward  almost  any  kind  of  attack.  The  drainage  of  the 
works,  building  materials  (including  excellent,  cement-yielding, 
dolomitic  limestone,  between  San  Miguel  and  Tarif  a),  abundant 
native  labor,  a  remarkably  healthy  climate,  etc.,  will  be  all  you 
may  desire. 

I  think  the  estimate  of  tonnage  upon  which  you  base  your 
reasons  for  the  safety  of  the  government  in  guaranteeing  three  per 
cent  semi-annual  dividends  is  quite  modest,  since  in  spite  of  offi- 
cial statistics  I  believe  the  road  will  handle  thirty  thousand  tons 
daily  very  soon  after  its  being  opened. 

The  discussion  of  this  subject  is  long,  and  my  letter  is  growing 
likewise  long. 

I  write  to  you  to  give  you  encouragement  to  push  on  this  matter 
with  all  your  might.  I  have  no  personal  motive  to  subserve  ;  my 
field  is  here  for  a  lifetime,  which  I  fear  will  be  too  short  for  my 
purpose.  Therefore,  if  I  have  bothered  you,  you  at  least  can  say 
this  is  a  case  of  disinterested  boring. 

If  I  can  be  of  any  service  to  you,  command  me,  and  I  will  be 
glad  to  furnish  any  data  upon  unpublished  notes  or  surveys  I 
have,  and  be  sure  you  have  my  most  sincere  wishes  for  the  happy 
issue  of  your  undertaking.     Very  truly  youi's, 

E.    A.    FUERTES. 


In  discussing  the  merits  of   the  several  Isthmian   routes  before  the 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  33 

Merchants^  Exchange,  in  St.  Louis,  pending  the  unanimous  adoption  by 
that  body  of  resolutions  recommending  the  favorable  consideration  of 
the  ship  railway  to  the  government.  Captain  Silas  Bent,  a  gentleman  who 
has  devoted  much  study  to  the  winds  and  currents  of  the  ocean,  and  who 
was  formerly  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  made  the  following 
remarks : — 


"  Mere  statements  of  thfe  difference  in  miles  is  a  very  inade- 
([uate  measure  of  the  difference  in  time  that  would  be  occupied  by 
sailing-vessels  in  making  these  several  passages,  and  when  we 
consider  that  three-fourths  of  the  ocean  commerce  of  the  world  is 
carried  in  sailing-vessels,  you  can  see  what  an  important  factor 
this  question  of  sailing-time  becomes  in  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem before  us. 

"The  northeast  trade-winds  which  extend  across  the  Atlantic 
are  so  broken  and  interrupted  when  they  encoiuiter  the  West 
India  Islands,  that  they  never  penetrate  the  Caribbean  Sea ;  but 
the  northwest  portion  of  them,  however,  do  extend  into  tlie  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  often  so  far  down  as  to  reach  well  toward  Tehuan- 
tepec,  so  that  whilst  in  the  Gulf  winds  are  always  found,  yet  the 
Caribbean  Sea  remains  a  region  of  almost  relentless  calms. 

"  Nor  is  this  all ;  for  the  mountain  ranges,  extending  the  length 
of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  through  Central  America,  offer  a 
still  more  formidable  barrier  to  the  passage  of  these  winds,  thus 
throwing  them  still  higher  into  the  upper  regions  of  the  atmo- 
sphere, and  extending  these  calms  far  out  into  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
on  the  parallel  of  Panama,  with  lessening  width,  for  fifteen  or 
eighteen  hundred  miles  to  the  northwest,  along  the  coast  of  Cen- 
tral America. 

"This  whole  region  of  calms,  both  in  the  Cari))bean  Sea  and 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  is  so  well  known  to  navigators  that  sailing- 
vessels  alwaj^s  shun  it,  if  possible,  though  the}'  maj'  have  to  run  a 
thousand  miles  out  of  their  way  to  do  so. 

' '  This  absence  of  wind  of  course  leaves  this  vast  area  exposed 
to  the  unmitigated  heat  of  a  torrid  sun,  except  when  relieved  mo- 
mentarily by  harassing  squalls  in  the  dry  season,  and  by  the 
deluging  rainfalls  of  the  wet  season.  With  these  meteorological 
facts  in  view,  let  us  now  suppose  that  the  Lesseps  Canal  at  Pan- 
ama, and  the  Eads  Railway  at  Tehuantepec  are  both  completed 
and  in  running  order ;  then  let  us  start  two  sailing  shi])s  of  equal 
tonnage  and  equal  speed  from  the  mouth  of  the  ^Mississippi,  with 


34  LETTERS    FROM 

cargo  for  China,  one  to  go  by  way  of  the  Panama  Canal,  and  the 
other  by  the  way  of  the  Tehuantepec  Railway,  and  I  venture  to 
affirm  that  by  the  time  the  Panama  vessel  has  cleared  the  canal 
and  floats  in  the  waters  of  the  Pacific,  the  Tehuantepec  vessel 
will  have  scaled  the  Isthmus  and  be  well  on  to  the  meridian  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands ;  and  that  before  the  former  vessel  can  worry 
through  the  fifteen  or  more  hundred  njiles  of  windless  ocean  before 
her,  to  reach  the  trade  winds  to  the  westward  of  Tehuantepec, 
the  latter  will  have  sped  five  thousand  miles  on  her  way  across  the 
Pacific,  and  be  fully  thirty  da3's  ahead  of  her  adversary.  For  it 
is  a  fact  worth  mentioning  here,  that. the  strength  of  the  northeast 
trade  winds  in  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  the  maximum  strength  of  the 
northern  portion  of  the  great  equatorial  current  in  that- ocean,  are 
both  found  on  or  near  the  parallel  of  latitude  of  Tehuantepec,  the 
former  blowing  with  an  impelling  force  to  the  westward  of  ten  or 
twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  the  latter  with  a  following  strength  of 
three  or  four  miles  per  hour. 

"  To  my  mind,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  the  way  that  cannot  be 
readil3'  overcome  by  engineering  and  mechanical  skill,  neither  in 
the  construction  of  the  road  nor  in  the  necessary  machinery  to 
handle  and  carry  vessels  of  any  size  and  of  an}'  weight  across  the 
easy  gradients  of  the  Tehuantepec  Isthmus. 

"And  I  further  believe  that  such  a  railway  can  be  built  at  half  the 
cost  and  in  half  the  time  —  jes,  in  one-third  the  time  —  that  any 
canal  can  be  constructed ;  and  that  while  the  railway,  for  many 
reasons,  would  be  of  greater  practical  benefit  to  the  commerce  of 
the  world  at  large  than  a  canal,  it  would  be  in  that  locality  of  im- 
measurably greater  advantage  to  both  the  commerce  and  the 
political  well-being  of  oiu-  own  country."* 


LEADING  ENGINEERS  AND  NAVAL  ARCHITECTS.     35 


SHIP  RAILWAYS  AND    CANALS; 

By  Sir  Edward  J.  Reed,  K.  C.  B.  ,  in  Reply  to  a  Letter  Addressed 
TO  Him  by  Rear- Admiral  Daniel  Ammen,  U.  S.  N. 


\_Sxr  Edward  Beed  is  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  was  for  many  years 
Chief  Constructor  of  the  British  navy.  He  was  made  a  Knight  Commander 
of  the  Bath,  as  a  recognition  of  his  eminent  abilities  as  a  naval  architect. 
He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society;  Member  of  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  and  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  is  Vice- 
President  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects.  He  has  written  several 
treatises  on  ship-building,  and  is,  tcithout  doubt,  the  highest  authority  in  the 
world  to-day  on  this  subject.'] 

Broadway  Chambers,  WESxinNSTER,  London, 
September,  188  L 
To  Rear- Admiral  Ammen,  U.  S.  N. 

Dear  Sir :  —  In  a  former  letter  I  explained  to  you  that  illness, 
&e. ,  prevented  me  from  replying  promptly  to  your  esteemed  favour 
of  March  loth,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  the  same  causes  have 
operated  until  the  present  time.  I  will  now  endeavour  to  reply 
>nth  sufficient  fullness  to  j'our  inquiry,  first  thanking  you  for  the 
copies  which  you  have  so  kindly  sent  me  of  papers  by  yourself,  by 
Mr.  Menocal  and  by  Capt.  Pheips,  all  of  which  I  have  read  with 
interest  and  profit.  Your  own  paper  and  that  of  Mr.  Menocal 
are  full  of  the  most  instructive  and  valuable  information  upon  the 
various  Canal  projects,  but  naturally  have  little  or  no  direct  bear- 
ing upon  the  Ship  Railway  proposal.  In  discussing  that  I  must 
therefore  direct  my  attention  to  the  pamphlets  by  Capt.  Phelps 
which  are  specificall3'  addressed  to  it. 

The  suggestion  to  transport  ships  loaded  with  cargo  from  one 
ocean  to  another  over  a  railway  more  than  100  miles  long 
is  one  which  was  certain  at  first  to  excite  many  doubts  and 
suspicions,  both  among  those  who  do,  and  among  those  who  do 
not,  understand  the  construction  of  ships  and  railways. 


36 


LETTERS    FROM 


But  fii*st  impressions  upon  a  matter  of  this  kind  are  of  little 
value,  and  all  such,  whether  favourable  or  otherwise,  may  be  dis- 
missed from  consideration.  Let  us  investigate  the  matter  closely, 
and  in  the  light  of  existing  knowledge  and  experience. 

And  in  the  first  place  I  feel  obliged  to  express  surprise  at  the 
contention  of  Capt.  Phelps  that  the  ship-railway  across  the 
Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  must  be  adapted  for  transporting  "the 
heaviest  vessels  used  anj'where. ' '  On  the  contrary,  the  primarj' 
requirement  clearh'  is,  that  the  railwa}^  should  be  adapted  to  carrj- 
the  vessels  engaged  in  ordinarj^  commerce,  and  more  particularl}' 
such  as  are  employed  in  distributing  to  the  world  the  corn  and 
other  products  of  California  and  the  neighbouring  States.  To 
Americans,  the  quick  and  economical  interchange  of  products  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  Western  States,  by  means  of  their  own 
mercantile  A'essels,  would,  I  think,  be  the  primarj^  object  to  attain ; 
for  this  purpose  it  would  certainly  not  be  necessary  to  provide  for 
the  transport  of  such  ships  as  the  "  City  of  Rome,"  the  "  Servia," 
and  other  immense  vessels  now  building  in  this  country  expressl}* 
and  solely  for  improving  the  intercourse  between  America  and 
Europe.  On  the  contrary',  I  should  anticipate  that  a  ship-railwaj'^ 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  which  would  reduce  the  sea 
communication  between  the  East  and  West  of  the  United  States 
to  the  utmost  possible  extent,  would  be  a  great  stimulant  to  the 
employment  of  American  built  vessels,  of  wood  as  well  as  of  iron ; 
and  in  so  far  as  the  wood-built  sailing  vessels  are  concerned, 
it  is  obvious  that  the  demand  for  immense  size  would  not  arise. 
Looking  to  the  still  available  resources  of  the  United  States  in 
ship-building  timber,  I  can  understand  that  the  ship-railway  would 
be  a  very  great  encouragement  to  the  continued  building  of  this 
class  of  ships  in  Maine  and  other  States.  There  is  undoubtedly  a 
general  tendency  to  increase  the  size  of  iron-built  steamers  in 
many  trades,  and  this  will  certainly  have  to  be  taken  into  account 
in  determining  the  character  both  of  the  railroad  and  of  the  ter- 
minal works,  but  after  much  consideration  of  the  subject  I  have 
satisfied  myself  that  no  present  necessity  exists,  or  is  in  ^iew,  for 
proceeding  with  the  ship-railway  upon  a  scale  so  large  as  to  ac- 
•  commodate  the  heaviest  and  longest  of  the  passenger  liners  now 
in  course  of  construction.  The  trade  of  the  world,  and  assur- 
edly the  American  trade,  would  be  amply  provided  for  if  pro- 


LEADINO    KN(.I\KEIJS    AM)    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  37 

vision  is  made  for  transporting  ships  of  a  maximum  displacement 
of  6,000  tons.  But  even  6,000  tons  displacement  is  a  limit  higher 
than  would  be  needed  to  accommodate  the  vast  majority  of  the 
world's  merchant- vessels  at  present,  and  would  provide  for  a  large 
and  pretty  general  increase  in  their  size  hereafter.  I  will  add  but 
two  remarks  in  this  connection  :  (1.)  It  might  be  wise,  and  would 
certainly  be  easy,  to  ensure  the  commercial  success  of  the  ship- 
railway  across  Tehuantepec  by  carrying,  in  the  first  instance,  ves- 
sels of  say  4,000  tons  at  most,  making  due  provision  for  the  sub- 
sequent increase  of  size  and  weight  in  such  a  manner  as  to  avoid 
interference  with  the  operation  of  the  line.  (2.)  One  of  the  ad- 
vantages which  the  railway  project  possesses  is  that,  if  suitably 
designed,  its  capability  of  transport,  both  as  to  the  size  and  as  to 
the  number  of  vessels  transported,  can  be  increased  with  facility 
and  economy. 

You  will  see  from  what  I  have  ab*eady  said  that  I  am  unable  to 
accept  the  view  of  Capt.  Phelps  with  respect  to  the  weight  of  the 
ships  to  be  carried,  I  regret  to  say  that  I  am  equally  unable  to 
accept  his  statement  of  the  auxiliary  weights  to  be  carried,  viz. , 
those  of  the  ship  car  and  cradle.  These  Capt.  Phelps  regards  as 
about  equal  to  the  weight  of  the  ship  and  cargo.  I  am  of 
opinion  —  after  making  some  guiding  calculations  —  that  the 
weight  of  a  car  and  cradle,  of  ample  strength  to  carry  a  ship  of 
4,000  tons  weight,  need  not  exceed  500  tons ;  if  to  caiTy  a  ship 
of  6,000  tons  it  need  not  exceed  750  tons.  The  aggregate  weight 
to  moved,  therefore  should  be: — 

For  a  ship  weighing,  with  cargo,  4,000  tons,    -        -  .     -        -  4,500  tons. 
"  "  "  G,000     "...        -  0,750     " 

r  therefore  regard  his  estimate  as  enormously  excessive. 

I  will  next  consider  the  mode  of  raising  and  transporting  the 
ships.  And  I  would  state  that  although  there  would  be  great  and 
obvious  conveniences  in  keeping  the  ship  alwa^'s  afloat  during  the 
transit,  I  am  of  opinion  that  this  would  involve  much  unnecessary 
expense,  both  in  the  construction  and  in  the  working,  and  that  no 
suflficient  reason  exists  for  pursuing  this  plan.  In  so  far  as  the 
lifting  of  the  ship  bodily  out  of  the  water  is  concerned,  this  pro- 
cess is  in  repeated  operation  at  the  Victoria  Docks  on  the  Thames, 
at  Malta,  at  Bombay,  at  Sebastopol,  and  elsewhere ;  while  the 


38  LETTERS    EROM 

process  of  hauling  ships  up  out  of  the  water  upon  a  wheeled  car- 
riage on  an  inclined  plane  laid  with  rails  is,  as  you  know,  a  ver^^ 
common  one.  I  had  two  such  hauUng-up  sHps  under  my  con- 
trol for  some  time  at  HuU,  and  the  company  working  them  have 
found  them  so  convenient  and  profitable  that  they  are  now  laying 
down  a  third  for  hauling  up  ships  of  3,000  tons  register  and 
more.  No  engineer  can  doubt  that  either  process  is  perfectly 
applicable,  with  increased  power,  to  ships  of  larger  size,  although 
I  should  myself  prefer  the  process  of  direct  lifting,  for  several 
reasons,  the  chief  of  which  is  that  it  furnishes  the  readiest  and 
best  opportunities  for  supporting  the  ship  upon  the  cradle  as  she 
leaves  the  water. 

This  brings  me,  of  course,  to  the  crucial  questions:  1.  Can 
ships  with  their  cargoes  on  board  be  lifted  out  of  the  water,  bj- 
hydraulic  lifts  or  other\fise,  and  upon  adjustable  cradles,  without 
injury?  2.  If  this  is  so,  can  they  be  with  safety  transported  over- 
land upon  such  cradles  ?  I  answer  both  questions  affirmatively, 
and  for  the  following  reasons :  I  would  lay  down  as  a  first  con- 
sideration that  in  both  cases  the  chief  cause  of  injury  to  be 
guarded  against  is  not  general  structural  strain,  but  local  strain 
resulting  from  unequal  distribution  of  weights,  and  more  especially 
of  cargo.  I  may  perhaps  be  excused  for  speaking  with  some  con- 
fidence upon  this  question,  inasmuch  as  it  was  in  a  paper  read  hy 
me  before  our  Royal  Society  in  1871,  and  published  in  extenso 
by  that  learned  body,  that  the  principles  of  strain  in  ships 
and  the  method  of  estimating  the  strains,  now  universally  ac- 
cepted were  first  laid  down.  I  affirm  that  the  general  struc- 
tural strains  which  are  likely  to  be  brought  upon  a  ship 
by  lifting  and  transporting  her,  presuming,  of  course,  that  reason- 
able skill  and  care  are  applied  to  these  processes,  are  inferior,  much 
inferior,  to  those  strains  to  which  every  ocean-going  ship  is  con- 
tinually liable  at  sea.  Indeed  the  only  structural  strain  which 
would  require  to  be  very  specially  guarded  against,  is  that  which 
exhibits  itself  in,  and  in  connection  with  the  beam-knees  of  wooden 
ships  ;*  and  even  this,  with  proper  bilge  support,  would  be  less 
than  the  like  strain  which  occurs  at  sea.     The  strains  to  be  most 

*  Perhaps  I  ought  to  mention  that  all  my  early  experience  as  a  ship- 
builder, extending  over  some  eight  or  ten  years,  was  acquired  in  the  con- 
struction aud  repair  of  wooden-built  shipa.  —  E.  J.  R. 


LEADING   ENGINEERS   AND   NAVAL.  ARCHITKCT8.  39 

apprehended,  and  against  which  it  would  be  necessary  to  make 
effectual  and  ample  provision,  are  local  strains,  and  chiefly  those 
arising  from  heavy  cargo  pressing  severely  upon  parts  of  the  bot- 
tom, and  often  alternating  with  places  of  much  less  weight,  or  of 
none  at  all.  But  I  apprehend  that  an  engineer  of  the  ekill  and 
eminence  of  Capt.  Eads,  with  all  the  experience  of  ship-builders 
at  his  command,  would  not  undertake  the  work  of  lifting  and 
transporting  loaded  ships  without  making  full  provision,  as  may 
be  readily  done,  for  applviug  ample  local  support  to  every  ship's 
bilge  at  every  part ;  nor  would  the  company  who  construct  and 
operate  a  ship- rail waj"^,  and  who  are  responsible  for  the  ship,  be 
likely  to  fail  to  have  the  support  carefully  applied  in  every  case 
where  needed.  In  fact,  it  would  be  made,.!  should  think,  a  ruling 
consideration  in  this  enterprise  to  so  bring  the  great  resources  of 
hydraulic  art  into  play,  as  to  give  to  each  ship  that  is  lifted,  far 
better  support  than  has  ever  before  been  provided  in  any  docking 
system  whatever.  To  accomplish  this  object  effectuall}^  would 
certainly  be  a  problem  of  much  easier  solution  than  many  which 
Capt.  Eads  and  other  engineers  have  solved  with  perfect  satisfac- 
tion, both  in  your  country  and  in  ours.  Nor  are  we  without  ex- 
perience to  guide  us  in  this  matter.  The  hydraulic  lift  at  Malta 
has  raised  numerous  ships,  with  cargo  on  board,  without  the 
slightest  injury  of  any  description.  From  a  list  of  such  vessels 
furnished  me  by  Mr.  Webb,  the  Secretary  of  the  Anglo-Maltese 
Hydraulic  Dock  Company,  Limited,  I  find  that  ships  carrying  heavy 
cargoes  have  been  frequently  raised  high  and  dry  in  this  way  with- 
out detriment. 

In  the  next  place,  it  seems  to  me  quite  certain  that  the  appli- 
ances which  would  secure  ample  and  firm  support  to  the  ship,  at 
ever}*"  part,  when  lifted  high  and  dry,  would  almost  necessarily  be 
such  as  would  effectually  keep  her  upright  in  storms,  and  preserve 
her  from  any  injury  upon  the  road.  I  take  for  granted  that  the 
railroad  constructed  for  the  purpose  would  be  of  the  most  solid 
kind,  and  so  laid  as  to  have  its  double  or  triple  sets  of  rails  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  same  plane,  and  also  that  the  carriages 
would  be  made  with  equal  care  in  all  their  parts.  With  these  pre- 
cautions taken,  and  considering  that  a  comparativel}^  low  speed  is 
all  that  is  required  or  contemplated,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  see  in  what 
way  danger  to  the  ship  is  to  arise.     I  will  only  add  upon  this  part 


40  LETTERS    FROM 

of  the  subject,  that  I  see  no  sort  of  necessity  for  hax-ing  a  special 
cradle  fitted  to  each  ship,  in  any  other  sense  than  that  of  taking 
care  to  give  support  to  each  ship,  wherever  necessary  by  hy- 
draulics or  othei-wise. 

There  are  some  observations  of  Capt.  Phelps  which  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  understand.  I  do  not,  for  example,  know  what  he  means 
by  saying  that  the  pressure  of  the  water  upon  the  bottom  of  a 
floating  ship  exerts  "  equal  force  upon  every  inch  of  its  surface  ;  " 
or  by  saving,  ' '  whether  rolling  or  pitching,  the  support  from  the 
water  is  uniform  at  all  times  and  at  all  points;  "  or  by  adding, 
"  when  waves  toss  the  ship  about  it  becomes  a  falling  body  re- 
ceived upon  a  water  cushion,  so  to  speak,  which  presses  and  yields 
everywhere  in  exactly  the  same  degree ;  hence  there  is  little  or  no 
strain  in  a  well-constructed  ship  when  the  weight  carried  is  evenly 
distributed,  as  seamen  take  care  it  shall  be."  With  all  respect  I 
must  say  that  these  statements  are  in  conflict  with  both  the  most 
elementary  and  most  developed  doctrines  of  science,  which  declare 
that  the  still  water-pressures  upon  a  ship  afloat  vary  with  and  as 
the  depth ;  that  they  are  consequently  different  in  amount  at  dif- 
ferent depths  ;  and  that  when  a  ship  is  tossed  by  the  waves  she  is 
thereby  subjected  to  great,  and  sometimes  to  enormous  strains, 
and  that  these  strains  undergo  continual  fluctuations.  In  the 
Royal  Society  paper  which  I  have  prcAiously  adverted  to,  I  have 
shown  that  even  the  light  wood -built  yacht  of  Her  Majest}'  the 
Queen,  the  *'  Victoria  and  Albert,"  when  lifted  upon  the 
crest  of  a  wave  of  her  own  length  (300  "feet)  and  20  feet  high 
from  hollow  to  crest,  has  her  bending  moment  tending  to  produce 
"hogging"  (which  moment  in  still  water  is  5,080  foot  tons)* 
increased  to  16,400  tons,  while  in  the  hollow  of  similar  waves  the 
hogging  moment  disappears,  and  is  replaced  by  a  reverse  or  "  sag- 
ging" moment  of  no  less  than  31,000  foot  tons.  In  the  passage 
of  a  single  such  half- wave  under  her,  therefore,  i.e.,  in  less  than 
four  seconds,  this  lightly  built  vessel  may  at  any  time  be  subjected 
at  sea  to  a  change  of  breaking  strain  at  a  given  section  of  no  less 
than  47,400    foot  tons.     Forgive  me  if  I  here  quote  a  few  sen- 

*  Foot  tons,  in  this  sense,  measure  leverage  which  constitutes  the 
straining  or  bending  moment.  Thus,  5,080  foot  tons  means  a  weight  of 
6,080  tons  acting  at  the  end  of  a  lever  1  foot  long,  or  508  tons  at  the  end 
of  a  lever  10  feet  long,  or  any  equivalent  leverage. 


LEADING   ENGINEERS    AND   NAVAL   ARCHITECTS.  41 

teuces  bearing"  upon  this  matter  from  the  paper  referred  to:  "I 
give  these  figures  merely  as  indications  of  what  may  be  expected 
to  happen  in  the  changes  of  strain  in  ships  at  sea ;  and  they  prob- 
ably fall  much  below  the  truth,  since  no  account  has  been  taken 
of  the  effect  of  violent  pitching  motions,  which  must  lead  to  still 
more  abrupt  and  violent  changes.  I  will  simply  add  that  a  very 
convenient  way  of  expressing  the  effect  I  have  been  attempting  to 
describe,  is  afforded  by  the  supposition  that  the  ship  is  fixed,  and 
that  what  may  be  termed  '  waves  of  strain  '  roll  through  her  struc- 
ture. The  introduction  of  this  idea  will  help  us  to  understand 
more  clearly  how  changes  in  strain  affect  a  structure ;  for  a  very 
small  strain  (considered  statically),  which  would  not  affect  a  com- 
paratively weak  structure  sensibly  if  it  were  constantly  acting  in 
one  direction,  Avill  suffice  to  destroy  a  far  stronger  structure  if  its 
direction  is  continually  and  I'apidly  changed.  This  subject  has 
not  escaped  the  attention  of  preceding  writers ;  and  Mr.  Fair- 
bairn  has  made  some  interesting  remarks  upon  it,  at  page  13 
of  his  work  on  'Iron  Ship-building,'  where  he  refers  to  the  re- 
sults of  a  series  of  experiments  on  the  endurance  of  iron 
jointed  beams  when  subjected  to  changes  in  the  loads  put 
upon  them.  He  says  the  joints  of  an  iron-rivetted  beam 
sustained  upwards  of  three  million  changes  of  one-fourth  the 
weight  that  would  break  it,  without  any  apparent  injuiy  to  its 
ultimate  powers  of  resistance.  It  broke,  however,  with  313,000 
additional  changes  when  loaded  to  one-lhird  the  breaking  weight, 
evidently  showing  that  the  construction  is  not  safe  when  tested 
with  alternate  changes  of  a  load  equivalent  to  one-third  the  weight 
that  would  break  it."  You  will  see,  therefore,  that  it  is  quite  im- 
possible to  assent  for  a  moment  to  Capt.  Phelps'  opinion  that  a 
well-constructed  ship  undergoes  "  little  or  no  strain  "  when  waves 
toss  the  ship  about.  On  the  contrary,  a  ship  tossed  about  at  sea 
undergoes  enormous  strains  and  changes  of  strain,  the  rapid  re- 
currence of  which  adds  greatly  to  their  power  of  injury.  It  may 
serve,  perhaps,  to  give,  greater  definiteness  to  the  matter  if  I  say 
that  while,  as  I  have  stated,  the  change  of  breaking  strain  caused 
by  waves  may,  in  the  case  of  the  royal  yacht  in  question,  readily 
exceed  47,400  foot  tons,  the  whole  breaking  strain  amidships  if 
she  were  left  high  and  dry  upon  two  rocks,  one  at  the  bow  and  the 
other  at  the  stem,  would  only  be  114,700  foot  tons  ;  so  that  the 


42  LETTERS    FROM 

breaking  effect  of  waves  passing  smootlily  along  her  amounts  to 
r^^  which  is  nearly  one-half  the  greatest  breaking  strain  that 
she  could  possibly  undergo  if  accident  left  her  to  ground  upon  a 
rocky  coast,  under  the  very  worst  conditions,  I  therefore  differ 
altogether  from  Capt.  Phelps,  believing  that  he  greatly  overrates 
the  strains  to  which  ships  properly  docked  and  transported  would 
be  subjected,  and  as  greatly  underrates  the  strains  to  which  they 
are  undoubtedly  subjected  at  sea. 

If  I  may  now  turn  to  the  non- nautical  parts  of  the  pamphlets  by 
Capt.  Phelps,  I  would  say  that  it  really  appears  to  me  that  the 
difficulties  which  he  apprehends  concerning  gradients,  turn-tables, 
tilting-tables,  sidings,  and  locomotives  requisite  for  a  ship-railway 
are  mainly,  and  in  so  far  as  they  profess  to  be  insuperable,  wholly 
imaginary.  I  will  not  discuss  them  at  any  length,  but  will  trouble 
you  with  only  one  or  two  remarks  upon  them.  Capt.  Phelps'  esti- 
mates that  60  locomotives  would  be  required  for  use  upon  a  gra 
dient  of  40  feet  per  mile.  Now,  in  a  paper  recently  read  before 
the  British  Association  at  Yot-k,  Sir  F.  J.  Bramwell,  one  of  the 
very  ablest  engineering  experts  in  this  country  (who,  by  the  way, 
said  at  the  same  place,  that  ' '  ships  upon  a  railway  would  not  be 
exposed  to  half  the  rack  and  strain  that  they  are  now  exjjosed  to 
on  the  ocean  "  ),  stated  that  at  slow  speed  good  engines  would  draw 
800  tons.  They  can  in  fact  draw  more,  but  let  us  accept  these 
figures.  Sixty  engines  would  therefore  draw  48,000  tons,  or  7 
times  the  maximum  weight  which,  as  I  estimate,  it  is  at  present 
requisite  to  provide  for.  Instead  of  60  locomotives,  therefore,  9 
or  10  locomotives  of  the  ordinary  type  would  suffice,  and  proba- 
bly'5  or  6  would  be  sufficient  for  the  large  majority  of  the  ships 
to  be  transported,  extra  power  being,  of  course,  applied  over  the 
short  distance  where  the  gradients  are  exceptional.  Again,  Capt. 
Phelps  give  5  tons  pressure  per  wheel  as  the  limit  which  may  be 
properly  applied ;  but  this  is  only  about  one-half  of  the  pressure 
which  is  sometimes  allowed  for  the  wheels  of  our  fast-running 
locomotives.  Instead  of  4,800  wheels  being  required,  as  he  esti- 
mates, I  should  think  that  the  800  (without  the  4,000),  would  be 
ample  for  the  largest  carriages  to  be  employed  on  the  railway. 

In  the  pamphlet  entitled  ' '  Review  of  the  Proposed  Tehuantepec 
Ship  Railway,"  Capt.  Phelps  tabulates  all  the  largest  ships  in  ex- 
istence and  in  course  of  construction,  both  mercantile  and  war 


LEADING   ENGINEERS   AND   NAVAL   ARCHITECTS.  43 

ves8els,  and  correctly  shows  that  both  descriptions  have  obtained, 
in  exceptional  instances,  displacements  of  about  13,500  tons.  I 
cannot  myself  accept  the  arguments  with  which  he  follows  these 
tables,  nor  does  it  appear  to  me  to  be  necessary  to  do  so ;  for  while 
I  should  consider  it  advisable  to  make  an  Isthmus  Canal,  once  for 
all,  of  sufficient  capacity  to  give  passage  to  the  very  largest  ships 
that  can  be  found,  I  should  deem  it  perfectly  unnecessary  to  give 
a  ship-railway  equal  capacity  in  the  first  instance,  because  the 
railroad  accommodation  is  itself  so  susceptible  of  extension  at  any 
time.  To  illustrate  this,  let  me  point  out  the  fact,  employing  the 
table  of  Capt.  Phelps,  that  although  the  ''Tokio"  may  liave  a 
displacement  of  9,000  tons,  and  the  "City  of  Rome  "  is  to  have 
a  displacement  of  13,500,  the  two  vessels  differ  in  breadth  by 
only  4^  feet,  but  differ  in  length  by  123  feet.  It  is  manifest  at 
once  that4,he  principal  change  required  in  passing  from  the  smaller 
to  the  larger  ship  would  be  that  of  pro\iding  a  carriage  or  cradle 
100  or  120  feet  longer.  But  the  fallacy  of  arraying  the  largest 
ships  that  can  an3rwhere  be  found  against  a  plain  business  proposal 
like  that  of  the  Isthmus  Ship  Railwaj^,  may  perhaps  be  best  seen 
by  observing  that,  as  Capt.  Phelps  shows,  while  the  very  largest 
of  the  mercantile  ships,  the  "  City  of  Rome,"  is  only  52:J  feet 
broad,  the  war-ship  "Inflexible  "  is  75  feet  in  breadth;  so  that 
it  would  appear  to  be  the  view  of  Capt.  Phelps  that  it  would  be 
improper  to  construct  a  shii>railway  at  Tehuantepec  for  commer- 
cial purposes,  even  if  it  were  capable  of  transporting  the  largest 
mercantile  ships  in  the  world,  unless  you  added  50  per  cent  to 
the  width  and  cost  of  the  permanent  way  necessary  for  them,  so 
as  to  accommodate  the  biggest  iron-clad  that  England  has  ever 
produced  I  It  only  needs  to  state  the  case  thus  in  order  to  show 
the  fallacy  of  the  contention,  and  to  indicate,  as  I  think,  that 
it  is  not  by  considering  the  cases  of  the  very  largest  ships  that 
can  be  found  in  the  world  that  the  project  of  Capt.  Eads  ought 
to  be  tested.  I  believe  that  even  if  this  were  a  legitimate  test  the 
scheme  would  not  be  found  to  fail  in  a  scientific  sense ;  but 
clearly  both  the  commercial  value  of  the  ship-railway,  and  its 
value  to  the  United  States  as  a  nation,  are  entirely  independent  of 
these  exceptional  cases,  and  must  mainly  be  judged  of  by  the 
measure  of  facility  which  its  adoption  would  afford  to  the  general 


44  LETTERS    FROM  , 

commerce  of  the   world,  and   to   the  mercantile  marine   of  the 
United  States  in  particular. 

I  do  not  think  I  need  add  to  these  observation?,  which  have 
occurred  to  me  on  reading  the  pamphlets  of  Capt.  Phelps.  But 
in  your  letter  to  me  you  make  specific  mention  of  a  proposal  said 
to  have  been  made  by  Capt.  Eads,  to  allow  the  ends  of  vessels  to 
project,  if  necessary,  beyond  the  supporting  cradle  by  50  or  60 
feet.  I  do  not  understand  Capt.  Eads  to  have  made  any  general 
proposal  of  this  kind,  and  I  feel  confident  that  he  would  confine 
any  such  proposal  to  the  case  of  iron  ships ;  it  certainly  would  not 
be  safe  to  allow  such  oyerhang  in  wooden  vessels,  but  in  iron  ves- 
sels of  large  size  it  would,  as  a  rule,  do  no  harm  whatever.  It 
will  follow  from  what  I  have  previously  said,  that  the  bending 
moments  due  to  such  unsupported  ends  would  be  very  small  in 
comparison  with  the  bending  moments  induced  by  the  straining 
action  of  ocean  waves.  Of  course  it  is  possible  that  when  the 
ship  was  in  motion  along  the  railway,  a  considerable  amount  of 
lateral  vibration  might  be  set  up ;  but  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand 
how  either  the  forces  producing  the  vibration,  or  its  amount,  could 
well  be  so  great  as  those  which  are  often  experienced  in  screw 
steamships  of  immense  engine  power  when  under  full  steam ;  and 
yet  these  vibrations,  although  sometimes  distressing  and  almost 
alarming,  seldom  do  any  actual  harm.  If  any  excessive  tendency 
to  vibration  should  exhibit  itself,  which  I  very  much  doubt,,  it 
would  not  be  diflicult  to  check  it  sufficiently  by  mechanical  appli- 
ances. 

I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  discuss,  with  my  present  information, 
the  relative  cost  of  the  Nicaraguan  Canal  and  of  the  ship-railway 
of  Tehuantepec.  I  should  require  to  give  both  projects  more 
lengthened  investigation  with  that  object  in  mind.  All  that  I  do 
feel  justified  in  saying  is,  that  it  seems  to  me  that  the  advantage 
as  between  the  Canals  of  Panama  and  Nicaragua  are  all  on  the 
side  of  the  latter,  from  almost  every  point  of  view,  while  from  the 
point  of  view  of  United  State  citizens  the  preponderance  of 
advantage  in  favor  of  the  Nicaraguan  route  is  enormous. 

As  regards  the  comparative  economy  of  transporting  a  ship's 
cargo  by  canal  or  railway,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  railway 
would  prove  the  more  economical  of  the  two. 

It  was  stated  in  evidence  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of 


LEADING    ENGINEERS    AND    NAVAL    ARCHITECTS.  45 

Commons,  by  the  chairman  of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway  Com- 
pany, on  the  7th  March,  1878,  that  coals  could  be  profitably  trans- 
ported by  this  company  at  the  rate  of  ^d  per  ton  per  mile ;  and 
this  was  confirmed  by  the  locomotive  superintendent  of  the  North- 
"Western  Railway,  on  the  21st  March,  1878.  If  we  assume  that 
the  total  distance  to  be  hauled  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuan- 
tepec  is  150  miles,  it  would  appear  that  a  ship's  cargo  can  be 
profitably  carried  for  that  distance,  in  the  ship,  over  a  first- 
class  railway,  for  $0. 75  per  ton.  I  arrive  at  this  conclusion  from 
the  follo\ving  considerations:  1st,  ^d,  or  one- half  cent,  per 
mile  gives  $0.75  per  150  miles;  and,  2nd,  the  weight  of  the 
ship  and  car  upon  which  she  is  transported  appears  to  bear 
about  the  same  ratio  to  the  cargo  carried  in  the  ship,  when 
fully  loaded,  that  the  weight  of  a  coal-car  bears  to  the  weight  of 
coals  it  carries.  It  was  also  stated  in  e\'idence,  on  the  occasion 
above  referred  to,  that  the  weight  of  coal  carried  on  one  truck  is 
7^  tons,  and  the  weight  of  the  truck  4^  tons.  The  paying  load 
is,  therefore,  about  58  per  cent  of  the  total ;  and  this  is  about 
tlie  proportion  that  the  cargo  would  bear,  in  many  ships,  to  the 
total  weight  of  the  ship,  car  and  cargo.  These  facts  are  suf- 
ficient to  show  that  the  transport  by  sliip- railway ,  over  a  first-class 
road  with  easy  gradients,  in  a  country  where  fuel  is  abundant  and 
labor  not  excessively  dear,  ought  to  be  about  the  same  per  ton 
per  mile,  for  the  cargo  carried,  as  in  England.  If,  however,  we 
assume  it  to  be  twice  as  expensive,  the  rate  would  then  be  $1.50 
per  ton  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec.  I  am  credibly  in- 
formed that  at  this  time  $20  ])er  ton  is  being  paid  for  the  transport 
of  grain  from  California,  round  Cape  Horn,  to  Liverpool. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  are  two  elements  in  the 
ship- railway  plan  proposed  by  Capt.'  Eads  which  tend  to  greater 
economy  than  is  obtained  in  the  railway  system  of  England: 
1st,  the  ship-railway  will  be  devoid  of  all  curves ;  and,  2nd,  the 
cargo  transported  will  be  handled  wholly  by  machinery,  and  in 
vast  bulk. 

I  am  afraid,  Dear  Admiral  Ammen,  judging  from  some  indica- 
tions which  I  have  observed  in  letters  from  your  pen,  that  the 
views  which  I  have  herein  expressed  concerning  the  ship-railway 
will  appear  to  you  both  unexpected  and  unsatisfactory.  I  shall 
very  much  regret  it  if  this  be  so,  because  to  differ  with  an  officer 


46  LETTERS    FROM 

of  your  experience  and  of  your  manifest  fair-mindedness  must 
necessarily  detract  from  one's  own  influence.  At  the  same  time  I 
find  myself  wholly  unable  to  believe  that  there  are  many  ships  at 
sea  which  could  not,  with  proper  appliances  and  the  needful  care, 
be  lifted,  fully  loaded,  from  the  water,  and  transported  upon  rails  ; 
and  if  ships  could  not  be  thus  employed  as  railway  cars  for  their 
own  goods,  I  should  think  it  time  to  deal  with  the  matter  the  other 
way  about,  and  make  large  cargo  carriages  which  could  take  the 
sea,  and  steam  and  sail  eflSciently  there.  I  have,  therefore,  no 
words  but  those  of  encouragement  for  a  ship-railway,  regarded 
from  my  point  of  view  as  a  ship-builder,  accustomed  for  a  life- 
time (which  is  getting  now  to  be  a  long  one)  to  the  designing, 
building,  repairing  and  docking  of  both  wood  and  iron  ships ; 
and  while  wishing  no  harm  to  the  Nicaraguan  Canal  scheme,  and 
not  having  anything  to  say  against  it,  I  trust  the  ship-railway 
scheme  may  also,  for  the  credit  alike  of  engineering  science  and 
of  commerce,  be  hereafter  discussed  by  others  with  that  dispas- 
sionateness with  which,  I  am  confident,  it  will  always  be  treated 
by  you. 

"Will  you  allow  me  to  add  an  expression  of  the  very  great  sorrow 
and  pain  which  are  everywhere  felt  in  this  country  on  account  of 
the  attack  made  upon  your  President,  also  of  our  heartfelt  sym- 
pathy with  him  in  his  sufferings,  and  of  our  admiration  at  the 
heroism  displayed  by  him  throughout  them.  His  name  and  his 
noble  endurance  are  upon  every  tongue  here. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Dear  Admiral  Ammen, 

Yours,  very  truly, 

E.  J.  REED. 


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